Contract Management Services

Here is how the work lines up. Contract management for Canadian shoots sits at the intersection of five major union frameworks and a federal-provincial tax-credit build style that disqualifies a project the moment forms drifts out of compliance. Our legal team works from today's-version templates for the Writers Guild of Canada Independent Production Agreement, Directors Guild of Canada feature and series contracts, ACTRA Independent Production Agreement and National Commercial Agreement, UDA collective agreements for Quebec francophone performers, and IATSE Locals 891 (BC), 873 (Toronto), 514 (Quebec), 212 (Calgary), and 669 (camera BC).

Here is what that looks like on the ground. Work-for-hire language is drafted under the Canadian Copyright Act with proper moral-rights waivers where Quebec civil-law overlays apply in new ways than common-law provinces. CAVCO certification clauses are wired directly into producer, director, writer, and key-creative deals so the 6-of-10 Canadian-content scoring holds up through audit — protecting CPTC 25% federal labour tax credit and stacking provincial bonuses (BC PSTC 28%, Ontario OPSTC 21.5%, Quebec QPSTC 20%, Manitoba 30-65%, Alberta FCDB 22-30%).

Here is how the picture comes together. For foreign shoots filming on PSTC (16% federal Canadian-labour credit) we draft service-production agreements that flow funds correctly through the Canadian production entity and track qualifying-labour expenditures against CAVCO's narrow definitions. IRCC LMIA-exempt work-permit clauses are built into above-the-line and key-below-the-line deals: USMCA pro types for US crew, Mobilité francophone for European francophone hires, intra-firm transferee language where the production firm has a parent-subsidiary structure. CBC and Radio-Canada commissioning templates carry their own ancillary-rights, holdback, and bilingual-master delivery clauses we agree against.

Here is what we have to work with. Insurance certificates, completion-bond agreements with Film Finances or Global Film Guarantors, gear-rental contracts with William F. White, Sim, Panavision, Keslow, and MELS, and location agreements with Vancouver Film Studios, Cinespace, Pinewood Toronto, and MELS Cité du cinéma are all reviewed against the shoot schedules. Standard contracts deliver in twenty-four hours. Complex agreements with cross-border tax-equalization or co-production-treaty implications take two to five days. Rush turnaround is open for same-day modifications when set business demands it.