An Actor’s Business: Location Matters

On January 8, 2007, Canadian actors went on strike in a dispute over how they should be paid for performances shown on the internet. This is only one issue confronting actors these days -- others include variations from city to city in requirements for American Equity Principal Auditions, with New York (surprisingly) stuck in a bygone era. In the first of a series of occasional pieces, Howard Eman
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On January 8, 2007, for the first time in its 64-year history, ACTRA, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, went on strike against the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA), which is the non-profit trade association representing almost 400 Canadian production companies involved in television, film, and interactive media.

The Canadian actors’ union represents the interests of 21,000 members across Canada. According to a statement on its web site, Canadian actors earn nearly 30% less than American actors when both are working on a Canadian film set. Thus, the union is demanding a rate increase from the producers’ organization that “would ensure they do not fall further behind [their American counterparts].”

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Howard Emanuel
About the Author
As an actor, Howard Emanuel has appeared across the USA in regional theatres ranging from The Paper Mill Playhouse and The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey to the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera and Houston's Theatre Under The Stars. As a playwright, he has recently completed his first full-length work, Last Supper. As a novelist, his urban fiction manuscript, Naked Angels, is currently being shopped to various publishing houses. He is currently hard at work on his second and third plays. He holds a B.F.A. in Acting from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts.