How the Hollywood writers’ strike could affect Manitoba’s film and television industry

As writers in Hollywood walk the picket lines thousands of miles away, Manitoba’s film and television industry is bracing for the strike’s impacts on this side of the border.

Manitoba Film’s interim chief executive officer and film commissioner Rod Bruinooge said the first shows to go dark due to the writers’ strike, like late-night talk shows, aren’t filmed in this province.

Additionally, many scripted features scheduled to shoot in Manitoba this summer are completed scripts, and don’t need additional writing.

Bruinooge also notes much of the Canadian content filmed in Manitoba is scripted by writers from a different union who are not affected by the strike.

“Over the years, we've cultivated that growth in our domestic content creation and so that, in a way, does somewhat insulate us from a big impact here in Manitoba,” he said.

However, should the writers’ strike last months, it could impact the number of features films that could come to Manitoba in subsequent years.

“So obviously, we would love to see an end to the strike as soon as possible and hope that both sides can come to the table and solve this.”

The first Hollywood strike in over a decade began last week, with 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America walking off the job when their contract expired.

Some of the issues at odds – higher minimum pay, more writers per show, and less exclusivity on single projects. They are all conditions writers say have dwindled in the streaming era.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios and productions companies, said in a statement it presented an offer with "generous increases in compensation for writers as well as improvements in streaming residuals" and was prepared to improve its offer. However, it was ultimately unwilling to do so “because of the magnitude of other proposals still on the table that the guild continues to insist upon."

Despite the turmoil in Tinseltown, Bruinooge said Manitoba has a busy summer ahead, with production teams already descending on the province scouting for their next projects.

“We've had some great scouts that have happened over the last 12 months. Of course last season was our biggest year ever, and so we're very excited for Manitoba. We continue to grow strongly.”

- With files from CTV’s Kimberly Rio Wertman and the Associated Press