Appendix Q Quebec Appendix

Appendix Q - Quebec Appendix

QUEBEC APPENDIX (IPA)

As the Act respecting the professional status and conditions of engagement of performing, recording and films artists, L.Q. c. S-32.1, (hereafter “the Act”) requires modifications, deletions and additions to the terms and conditions of the IPA, the present Appendix is applicable to producers who are members of APFTQ and, as the case may be, to any producer who would be included in any recognition granted to the APFTQ by the Commission des relations de travail du Québec (hereafter the “Commission”).

1. Recognition, Application and Term

As the Act requires certain modifications and deletions to the terms and conditions of Article A1 of the IPA, the following provisions shall apply in lieu of Articles A101, A104, A105, A106 and A107 of the IPA:

A101	As per one of the Recognitions granted under the Act on June 15th, 1995, which came into force on July 3, 1995, the Writers Guild of Canada’s (“the Guild”) exclusive jurisdiction in the province of Quebec pertains to all “auteurs de textes dans le domaine du film de langue autre que française dans la province de Québec qui offrent leurs services moyennant rémunération.” Thus, the APFTQ and the producer recognize the Guild as the sole and exclusive agent for all writers included in such Recognition. It is agreed that Story Consultants are not covered by the Guild’s recognition under the Act. Notwithstanding the foregoing and Article A101 a) above, the IPA shall cover Story Consultants when they are members of the Guild as per their membership contract with the Guild when contracted by members of the APFTQ, or by signatories to this Agreement under a Voluntary Recognition Agreement as per Appendix B. The IPA shall not apply to a person writing the lyrics of a feature film or of a television production when such a person is not contracted as the writer of that feature film or that television production. Nothing in the present Appendix shall be interpreted as limiting any exclusive recognition granted to the Guild under the Act. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Guild may continue to negotiate minimum working conditions or the application of the IPA with any producer not represented by the APFTQ. It is understood that for the moment the APFTQ binds only its regular and trainee members to the provisions of the IPA. Permittee members are bound only for the production for which they have joined the APFTQ. When, and if, the APFTQ is recognized under the Status of the Artist Act, the IPA will also bind all producers in Quebec included in the field of activity established under the Act. Regardless of the field of activity included in the eventual recognition of the APFTQ, if any, the APFTQ always binds, to the entire provisions of the IPA, its regular and trainee members. Permittee members are bound only for the production for which they have joined the APFTQ. However, if any other group agreement is concluded between the Guild and another group of producers for a type of production covered by the IPA (e.g. industrial programs, videoclips, Digital Production, etc.) this Agreement will cease to be applicable to members of the APFTQ for that type of production on the day the other group agreement comes into force.
A104	The regular, trainee and permittee members of the APFTQ shall not be required to sign any letter of adherence or Voluntary Recognition Agreement (as per Appendix B). The Guild agrees not to permit a producer who is not a member of the APFTQ from availing itself of this Agreement unless such producer signs a Voluntary Recognition Agreement as provided in Appendix B and unless such producer remits the applicable administration fees provided in Article A1201.
A105	Subject to the provisions of Article A1 and the present Appendix, the IPA shall apply to all Writers, Story Editors and Story Consultants contracted by any Producer who is bound to this Agreement. Nothing in this Agreement shall prevent a Producer from freely obtaining the services of a Writer, Story Editor or Story Consultant who may not be a member of the Guild in which case, s/he will be treated as a non-member under the terms of this Agreement. The rates, terms and conditions for such Writer or Story Editor shall not be less than those provided in this Agreement.
A106	Writer / Regular Employee Provisions A Writer who regularly binds himself to one or several producers by way of engagement contracts pertaining to specified writing services is deemed to be a Writer covered by the IPA and not to be a Regular Employee. A Regular Employee, who is not an artist under the Status of the Artists Act, is an individual hired under an employment contract (verbal or written) for an indefinite period on a permanent basis and for whom deductions under Income Tax laws are duly made. A Regular Employee whose duties include writing and who is regularly engaged in creative aspects of production is not covered by this Agreement. The recognition procedure attached hereto as the “Regular Employee Status Procedure” shall apply. Where a Regular Employee(s) and a Writer(s) are working on the same Script Material, it is agreed that the Producer will contract the Writer(s) for the applicable Script Material as provided in Articles C109, C308, C408, C507, C607, and C705 of the IPA. The Production Fee shall be paid to credited Writers as per Articles A1109 and C1005 of this Agreement and in any event the Writer shall not receive less than his/her share of the Production Fee. In any case where the Producer claims the Regular Employee and the Writer are working as a Team on Script Material, the agreement of the parties and the Guild will be sought prior to engagement and such agreement shall not be unreasonably withheld. The Writer member of the Team shall receive no less than the applicable pro-rated share of the minimum Script Fee and Production Fee. In any case in which a Regular Employee of a Producer who is not the sole Writer claims or is accorded writing credit, the Producer shall automatically notify the Guild and an arbitration shall follow under the rules of A927 to A940. Only Regular Employees as defined above and Writers contracted under this Agreement or a guild agreement negotiated by a member of the International Affiliation of Writers Guilds (“IAWG”) shall be eligible to receive writing credit on a Production. The IPA shall not apply to a recognized specialist who is not a member who writes a non-dramatic Script, the contents of which relate to his/her own special field, except that this exclusion shall not apply to such a specialist after s/he has written three (3) such Scripts or to any Writer of a Feature Film. For the duration of this Agreement and for Documentaries only, the matters covered by Articles C1, C2, C5, C10 and C11 shall be negotiable between the Producer and any Writer who is not a member of the Guild. Any Production Fee payable to a Writer who is a member of the Guild and who works on the same Script Material as a non-member, shall be paid as per Articles A1109 and C1005 of this Agreement and, in any event, the member Writer shall not receive less than his/her share of the Production Fee. In the event the Writer, who is a member of the Guild, is also a member of a Team, he/she shall receive no less than the applicable pro-rated share of the minimum Script Fee and Production Fee.
A107	Not applicable.

2. No Strike and Unfair Declaration:

As the Act requires certain modifications and deletions to the terms and conditions of Article A4 of the IPA, the following provisions shall apply in lieu of A401, A402 and A403 of the IPA:

A401

During the life of this Agreement, the Guild undertakes not to call or direct a work-stoppage against any Producer.

A402

Producer’s Refusal to Abide by or Follow Grievance or Arbitration Procedure or Decision.

Where a Producer does not abide by, or declares its intent not to abide by the grievance or arbitration procedure, or refuses to comply with a decision rendered pursuant to Article A5 by a Joint Standing Committee or an Arbitrator, the Guild may declare such Producer an “Unfair Producer” upon ten (10) days’ notice to the Producer concerned and to the APFTQ.

A403

Not applicable.

3. Translating Material Created in Any Language Other Than English

A. The provisions of this Article were newly introduced in the 2006-2008 IPA and it is understood that they have been agreed for the term of the IPA. Nothing in this Article shall be interpreted as a limitation or a renunciation by the Guild to any exclusive recognition granted to the Guild under the Act.

B. When a Writer is engaged to translate existing script material into Script Material (as defined in the IPA) from any language other than English into any language other than French without changing the dramatic structure, characters, tone or geographic location, the following terms shall apply:

The Script Fee shall be negotiable between the Writer of the translation and the Producer.
The Writer of the translation shall not be entitled to any Production Fee or Distribution Royalty.
The Script Fee shall be allocated and paid as follows:
1. on signing of the contract: 25%
2. on delivery of the Script Material: 75%
Article A9 of the IPA shall apply to the Writer of the translation with the following changes:
1. Each Writer contributing to the translation of existing script material into on-screen Script Material as set forth above shall be entitled to the credit “TRANSLATED BY…”.
2. Writers of translations shall not be counted towards the maximum number of Writers set forth in the section LIMITATION OF NUMBER OF WRITERS.
3. Position and size of the credit shall be set out in the Writer’s contract.
4. Producer shall not be obligated to accord Writer credit in advertising or publicity.
Nothing in this Article shall be interpreted as precluding the Writer of the translation from receiving appropriate writing credits as set out in Article A9 of the IPA when providing other writing services.
In the event of a difficulty of interpretation or application of the present translation provisions, the Producer, the APFTQ and the Guild agree to negotiate in good faith the terms and conditions of a mutually agreeable settlement.

C. For the term of this Agreement, this Article does not apply to Writers of translations who are not members of the Guild when engaged to work on Documentary programs or episodes. Notwithstanding the above, when members and non-members are engaged on the same program or episode, the form of credit set forth in sub-paragraph d) (i) above shall apply to all such individuals.

4. Subject to the provisions of the Act, Appendix A (the Negotiation Protocol) shall apply in Quebec.

5. Unless otherwise expressly provided for, in the case of a conflict between the present Appendix and the IPA (including all other Appendices), the present Appendix shall prevail.

6. In the case of a conflict between the IPA (including the present Appendix) and the Act, the said Act shall prevail.

WHEREAS, by virtue of Article A106 of the Quebec Appendix above, Quebec Producers’ Regular Employees are not covered by the IPA;

WHEREAS the parties desire to establish a procedure to recognize Regular Employee status for a writer;

THE PARTIES HEREBY AGREE TO THE FOLLOWING:

When a Producer covered by the IPA wishes to hire a person as a Regular Employee who will write Script Material in the course of his or her employment, and claims that this employee is not an artist within the meaning of the Act, the Producer shall respect the following procedure:

1.1	Within forty-five (45) business days of hiring the employee, or for persons already employed by the Producer, sixty (60) business days following the day this agreement becomes effective for the Producer, the Producer shall send to the Guild document(s) establishing that said person is one of its regular employees;
1.2	In order that the Guild may determine the individual’s Regular Employee status, the documents provided pursuant to Article 1.1 above shall contain information on the nature of the work to be performed, the remuneration and the Producer’s degree of control over the employee.

2. Within thirty (30) days of receipt of the documents in Article 1.1, the Guild shall notify the Producer of its refusal to recognize the Regular Employee status. If there is no notification of refusal, Regular Employee status is thus recognized by the Guild. If the Producer is notified of refusal by the Guild within the above timelines, the matter will be referred to a Joint Standing Committee (or Arbitration, if applicable), which shall hear the case without delay.
Before the Joint Standing Committee or Arbitration convenes to hear the matter, or failing a majority decision of the Joint Standing Committee, the Guild may choose to refer the matter to the Commission, in which case the matter shall not go before the Joint Standing Committee or the Arbitration.
The IPA and its Schedules do not apply to the writing services of a person for whom Regular Employee status is recognized by the Guild, a Joint Standing Committee, an Arbitrator or the Commission.
The Regular Employee status so recognized for an individual shall remain as long as the conditions of his/her employment remain, even if such recognition was granted under a previous IPA. The Producer shall keep the Guild informed of any modification of the individual’s employment in accordance with Article A1.

If a Producer fails to respect the timelines set forth in Article 1, the Guild may request that the Joint Standing Committee or Arbitrator fine the Producer from $20 to $200 for each day that the Producer is late. In assessing such penalties, the Joint Standing Committee or Arbitrator shall take into account the Producer’s good or bad faith, any damages and disadvantages caused to the Guild, and the general conduct of both parties in this matter.

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