Delivery of episodes at the last minute, accumulated fatigue, accelerated training, postponed shootings, higher wages… The labor shortage that is hitting Quebec is also affecting the television sector.
The numbers don’t lie. Since the start of the year, the Alliance québécoise des technicians de l’image et du son (AQTIS), local 514 AIEST, which represents 7,000 workers in the audiovisual sector, has received 6,989 requests for services and only 4,500. of them have found takers. In other words, nearly 2,500 positions remained vacant for lack of availability.
“It is not because our members have decided to take time off,” indicates the president of the group, Christian Lemay. On the contrary, they work hard. Fatigue is felt. The holiday break will be just around the corner. ”
Sources inform us that some shootings have started without a script to ensure the continuity of the elements of costumes and props. American productions shot in Montreal recruited technicians in Toronto because there was no one there. The KOTV production box (Plan B, Between two sheets) was recently forced to postpone filming a web series until the spring because she was struggling to find enough staff.
“I’ve never seen that,” says Josée Vallée, vice-president, production and operations, fiction, at Sphère Média (Another story, The honorable). On Facebook, I constantly see advertisements to fill a particular position. This summer, I believe we called the entire directory to find someone. ”
This is something that we sometimes observe in the summer in July, during the peak production season, but it is sporadic. The current shortage is in all spheres: editors, production assistants, sound recordists, cameramen …
Christian Lemay, President of AQTIS
So far, the labor shortage has not forced any channel to suspend the airing of a series due to delivery delays, but it is an event that could occur.
According to Denis Dubois, vice-president, original content at Quebecor Content, this stress should last until the spring. “If anything goes wrong in the next six months, it might happen. We are monitoring the situation very closely. ”
“Perfect storm”
Several factors explain this shortage of television workers. In industry, the term “perfect storm” is used.
By forcing the postponement of several shootings initially planned for 2020 (such as The blue Hour, Plan B and Without an appointment), COVID-19 created overheating in 2021.
PHOTO KARL JESSY, SUPPLIED BY THE PRODUCTION
Series Without an appointment was originally scheduled to be shot in 2020.
The arrival of a major player like Bell Media, which is increasing orders to fill the Noovo grid and improve the offer of Crave, its streaming platform, contributed to the phenomenon, as did the increase in investments by Quebecor Media.
The company recently launched a lifestyle and documentary content platform called Vrai, which promises to offer 50 productions per year. In addition, 14 fiction series are expected on Club illico over the next 12 months.
“When the number of productions increases, it creates jobs, but it also generates pressure on the industry,” observes Denis Dubois, of Quebecor Content.
As for the departures of audiovisual workers, who would have changed jobs during the crisis, Christian Lemay speaks of a “negligible” factor. “There are those who have left, there are those who have retired earlier than expected, but it is minor. Not many of them have left the community to follow the accelerated beneficiary attendant training. The most important factor is really the increase in the volume of productions, ”insists the president of AQTIS, local section 514 AIEST.
American invasion
To explain this shortage, producers also mention the increased presence of foreign shoots in Quebec.
“The Americans take the same workforce as us, but they can pay more because they don’t have $ 500,000 per episode to do their show, but 6 to 10 million,” says Nicola Merola. president of Pixcom Productions (The fault, Alerts). For us, this is problematic. ”
At Productions Casablanca, the shootings of 5e Rank and of This is how i love you gave Joanne Forgues and Catherine Faucher a hard time because of a more complex schedule management than usual, in particular to compensate for the absence of technicians who would lend a hand to foreign sets.
Of course, we are losing a lot of technicians to the Americans. But we can understand, Hollywood productions are huge. These are conditions of another category. They offer salaries of $ 15 to $ 20 more per hour. These are not figures that can be seen.
Catherine Faucher, from Productions Casablanca
“It happened to us to lose people just before we started shooting because they had received more attractive offers from the American side,” said Louis-Philippe Drolet, of KOTV.
At the Quebec Film and Television Bureau (BCTQ), the American argument is tempered. It would be a perception more than a real factor.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY KOTV
Louis-Philippe Drolet, main manager of KOTV
“We should end the year with 25 foreign shoots,” announces Christine Maestracci, new general manager of the BCTQ. Obviously, this is more than in 2020, when the borders were closed. But it looks like the prepandemic figures for 2019. ”
The solution: training
A sign of the dynamism of the television industry in Quebec, the labor shortage has greatly affected the learning curve of workers … by accelerating it at high speed.
“People move up in rank quickly,” comments Joanne Forgues, president of Productions Casablanca. They do not necessarily have the experience, but since we are short of people, they climb the ranks much faster. ”
We shape the world at the same time as we turn: it’s like building an airplane while flying. It forces us to be super vigilant to make sure we don’t escape anything.
Josée Vallée, vice-president, production and operations, fiction, at Sphère Média
As for possible solutions to resolve the situation, they mainly concern training. The Society for the Development of Cultural Enterprises (SODEC), the Quebec Media Production Association (AQPM) and the National Institute of Image and Sound (INIS) are currently “in solution mode”, it is stated. .
For François Messier, who heads production at Radio-Canada, one of the possible solutions is to start recruiting much earlier, or even in the third year of secondary school. “We have to work differently. I believe that we need to upgrade the technical professions. It would allow us to attract more customers. ”
According to several observers, this labor shortage will persist in Quebec in 2022. However, its effects will be much smaller since the local industry will have adapted to it. At least, in part.
“It requires a reorganization of work, a reorganization of planning,” says Denis Dubois, of Quebecor Content.