The Big Squeeze

(4-minute read)

Since the pandemic, Ontarians are continually feeling the pinch on their household incomes with the price of food, transit, rent and other household goods skyrocketing. Food bank lineups^[1] are at an all-time high while people continue to struggle to buy the bare necessities.

The cost of goods (food, shelter, transportation, etc.) has increased by almost 18 per cent^[2] over the past four years while rent in Ontario has increased by over eight per cent^[3] since 2020 and average purchase prices by 16.8 per cent^[4], making Ontario’s housing crisis exponentially worse.

For most Ontarians, the record-breaking inflation we’ve experienced over the past four years far exceeds any salary or wage increases individuals may have received.

For ACTRA performers, general rates have also not kept up with the pace of inflation with rates and fees under both the Independent Production Agreement (IPA) and National Commercial Agreement (NCA) increasing by 9 per cent since 2022.

There is a trickledown affect on how these new financial realities impact performers’ investment and insurance benefits. Said AFBS Board of Governors Chair Ferne Downey:

“It’s having a tremendous impact. Following the U.S. strikes last year, the pullback on production this year as well as the ongoing lockout of commercial performers, ACTRA Members have been working less, which means they have been receiving fewer insurance contributions from Producers/Engagers. Many are having to pay more out of pocket just to keep their insurance. It’s tough to decide if you are going to pay for your rent or pay for your insurance. In 2024, we had a 70 per cent increase in the number of AFBS Members who dropped coverage levels as compared to 2022. AFBS has been trying to help Members, and we helped over 1,550 last year alone, but this is not sustainable. We can’t continue like this.

We’re also seeing more AFBS Members needing to access their RRSP funds just to get by with day-to-day expenses like housing and childcare. Since 2021, we’ve seen a 40 per cent increase in RRSP withdrawals and the number of performers needing to make those withdrawals. This is destroying their future retirements. Once you take it out and spend it, you can’t replace it. With the precariousness of our industry, this leaves me very concerned for their futures.

We need the industry to address these economic vulnerabilities.”

Additionally, another squeeze on performers’ income is the added cost many now incur in the audition process – creating self-tape auditions and, in some cases, installing a home studio.

“Since COVID, the cost associated with auditioning for film and TV have gone from physically going into the casting house to be filmed and given direction to a virtual audition room where we now have first round auditions being done exclusively by self-tape submissions,” said ACTRA Toronto member and voice performer Cory Doran. “Those self-tapes have a cost, for most performers, every single time they have to submit for a role. For Voice Performers, there’s been the need to purchase and maintain the sound equipment necessary to record at a professional sound studio level. These are potentially thousands of dollars worth of cost that have been downloaded, with no compensation or regard at all, onto Performers. We aren’t in a COVID lockdown situation anymore, so why are all the costs still being put on our individual shoulders to bear?”

There is a misconception that all performers are these multi-million-dollar stars people often think of when they think of actors, but the stark reality is that only a very small percentage of performers are able to negotiate above-minimum payments for their work.

This is why the union’s work is so important – to negotiate wage increases and other protections in collective agreements on behalf of all members.

With the average performer in Ontario earning about $12,000 per year from their performance work, we can’t have minimum rates in 2024 or 2025 be less than what performers were paid in 2019.

Performers work in a tough, competitive industry where they are constantly vying for their next gig.

It is time performers are recognized for the value they contribute to Canada’s creative industry, which means being compensated fairly for their work.