'Things have gotten pretty dire': How Alberta film workers are coping as Hollywood strikes drag on

Nearly a month after dual Hollywood strikes caused Alberta productions to shut down and lay off staff, unions say some local film industry workers are still out of jobs and struggling to make ends meet.

In May, the Writers Guild of America went to the picket line after failing to reach a new contract with the trade association that represents Hollywood studios and production companies.

In July, union leaders of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists also went on strike.

Damian Petti, president of Local 212 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), says this means his members have about 15 per cent of the work they had at the same time last year.

"There's not an immediate end in sight, so things have gotten pretty dire for the crews," said Petti.

"People have been resorting to finding plan Bs for their careers. People have families to feed and mortgages to pay, and this has been very difficult."

He says some of his members have accessed short-term relief funds like the Actors Fund of Canada and employment insurance, but those protections won't be enough to replace the wages they were earning before the strikes.

Others are leaving the industry altogether, he says.

"Some of our new members are saying, 'I really don't want to continue doing this.' And so, that's concerning to me."

From 15 auditions a month down to 3

Jerod Blake is a Calgary-based actor who's been featured in television series and movies like Under the Banner of Heaven with Andrew Garfield and the upcoming The Order with Jude Law.

He says he's fortunate he has a 9-to-5 job in the social services sector to cover his bills. Since the strikes started, he says acting opportunities have dwindled.

"There are fewer auditions now that are popping up on my radar. Where I might have gotten 10 or 15 auditions a month, I'm seeing maybe one to two or three a month," said Blake.

"Securing a role is so damn hard and the compensation doesn't come anywhere close to the type of work we do to secure a role."

Blake says he knows other actors who are picking up side gigs and turning to smaller-scale independent productions, which are still filming, to stay afloat.

An 'existential' fight for the future

Blair Young, an actor and president of the Alberta branch of Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, says stories like this are becoming more common.

"There's a friend of mine who works behind the camera and he packed up his car and he's gone up to oil country to work on a rig because he doesn't see the possibility of the strike ending soon, and it's increasingly looking like that might just be the case," said Young.

Still, he says the union stands behind the crews south of the border fighting for pay and fair use of artificial intelligence.

"This fight is a critical — I call it existential — fight, because it really will determine how viable our industry is for people moving forward for the next several decades. So it's really important to get it right."

Young says productions that were delayed from the strikes, like The Abandons, will likely be pushed back further than expected.

Still, he says Alberta's film industry is resilient and he's hopeful it will bounce back immediately once the strikes are over.