How will the U.S. writers strike affect Canada? Thousands of jobs could be lost and productions cancelled, experts say

As thousands of writers set down their pens and take to the picket lines south of the border, Canada’s Hollywood-infused film industry is watching closely.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and its more than 11,000 member screenwriters are officially on strike for the first time in 15 years, citing issues with pay, concerns over AI automation, shrinking writers’ rooms and more.

Experts say script-less U.S. productions filming in Canada could soon be delayed or shuttered, causing the loss of thousands of Canadian jobs. Given enough time, however, Hollywood may start buying up Canadian productions to get around the strike.

Here’s what you need to know.

U.S. productions in Canada first to be impacted

Without their American writers, the many U.S. productions filming in Canada may soon have to cancel or delay shooting, according to Alex Levine, a screenwriter and president of the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC).

“These shows are written by American writers and American showrunners, but produced and crewed here in Canada, shot on our locations, shot on our soundstages,” Levine said. “All of those shows are going to stop when they run out of scripts.”

This will impact the hundreds of thousands of Canadian workers, Levine continued. In 2020, foreign investment into Canadian film production topped $6 billion, accounting for almost half of the industry’s contribution to Canada’s GDP that year. That same year, global productions in Canada employed over 129,000 Canadians.

“In fact, we do more (work on U.S. productions in Canada) than we do Indigenous or domestic production, which is unfortunate,” Levine said. “So all of the Canadians that work on those shows, whether it’s the Teamsters that drive the trucks, the art department, wardrobe, makeup, everybody who works on that show — and there’s a lot of Canadians working on those shows — will be out of work.”

Dave Forget, the executive director at the Directors Guild of Canada, said: “For now, U.S. service productions already in progress remain active right across Canada — but we are closely monitoring the possibility of delays or shutdowns on some shows.”

Could Canadian writers take U.S. union jobs?

While it’s possible some Canadian writers might head south to fill the jobs of striking colleagues, workers in the industry say it’s unlikely — it could hurt their future job prospects.

“It’s been made pretty clear to everyone that if you decide to go and take union jobs down there while they’re on strike, people will remember that,” said Ian MacIntyre, a Toronto-based TV and animation writer who worked on shows like “Inspector Gadget” and “DeGrassi: Next Class.”

And while MacIntyre hasn’t heard of anyone being “officially blacklisted” over the action, “it will be frowned upon for sure.”

“At the same time, I haven’t heard of anyone I know seriously discussing doing that,” he added.

Levine is similarly unconcerned: “(The WGA) is our sister guild and we support them and are in solidarity with them. We have told our membership not to take struck work, not to query, to pitch or to work for American companies that the Writers Guild of America is on strike with.”

American broadcasters may buy up Canadian content

The U.S. industry may buy up Canadian content for American TV, should the strike last long enough, said Daniel Keyes, an associate professor of cultural studies and media studies at UBC Okanagan. He said there’s historical precedence.

“This would benefit Canadian producers as it always has, historically, if the strike is prolonged,” Keyes told the Star. For example, during the 2007 WGA strike, American broadcasters bought up Canadian productions to fill empty timeslots and get around the job action.

“Historically, shows come here because of a strike, and then they find with the weak Canadian dollar and various tax credits that it’s cheaper to stay here and produce here — and they remain,” Keyes said.

Levine “expects some of that to happen again,” but noted most Canadian shows these days already have a U.S. partner, and are shown on American networks.

“It’s not going to be like it was, where productions that only aired in Canada are suddenly bought up by American broadcasters,” he continued. “But you may find broadcasters showing more of those shows to fill up empty timeslots,” as well as more international programming shown on American TV, Levine said.

How are Canadian unions reacting?

Canadian film unions, from the Writers Guild to numerous Directors Guilds, are supporting the WGA. “They’re striking over issues (relevant) for us in Canada as well, and in fact are issues writers face globally. So we support them — but we are not striking in solidarity.”

The WGC has a separate agreement with producers than the WGA, which they will be negotiating at the end of the year. Levine said they’ll bring up some of the issues highlighted by the WGA, and that they’re “seeing how (the WGA is) approaching these negotiations and we’re hoping that they’ll be successful.”

According to MacIntyre, “it’s a tough grind to be a TV writer here in Canada — but we always assumed if you’re a writer down in L.A., you’re making money hand over fist.”

“It turns out that the reality is, over the last decade, it’s increasingly rare that (writers) can even make ends meet.”

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