Distracted by this summer’s Hollywood strikes, which oriented the global audiovisual industry toward a different focus on the working conditions of actors and screenwriters, we failed to notice that here in Italy, too, a process of category awareness had been underway for some time, which ended with the signing of a national collective agreement by Anica, Ape and Apa on the one hand and the unions on the other.
“An agreement of great value, which gives stability and strength to the entire film-audiovisual industry. We are particularly proud that this ‘first time’ in Italy was achieved without bitter conflicts, as happened in the U.S., and with a mutual constructive spirit,” says Anica President Francesco Rutelli.
“At a time of profound changes going through the sector, with the introduction of new languages, technologies and systems of fruition, today’s agreement,” adds Chiara Sbarigia, president of the APA Audiovisual Producers Association, “(the collective agreement) represents a strong and profound signal that responds above all to the need to rationalize and make more transparent the ways in which the parties engage and the correct contractual timing.
Category consciousness, says Vittoria Puccini, instead, actress and president of the Unita Unione Nazionale Interpreti Teatro e Audiovisivo association, was born during the pandemic, when workers in the industry were experiencing the uncertainty of the times. “In a situation of emergency, actors also felt the need to recognize themselves as a profession and as part of the category, aiming to achieve a set of protections and rights that apply and are guaranteed for everyone and everyone, regardless of one’s career and bargaining power.”
The issues brought forward with the national collective are undoubtedly the protection from generative artificial intelligence, a topic also dear to colleagues overseas, and the promotion of equal opportunities, as well as the prevention of gender-based violence through the professional figure of the intimacy coordinator on set.
Ratification will come by December 31, entry into force in early 2024.
PhotoCredits: Jakob Owens su Unsplash
