Union des artistes (UDA)

Overview

The Union des artistes (UDA) is the Quebec union representing French-language professional performers working in film, television, theatre, radio, dubbing, and variety across Canada. Founded in 1937 and headquartered in Montreal, the UDA is the primary union for French-language on-screen and on-stage talent in Canada. The UDA also represents artists working in languages other than French and English within Quebec. For English-language Canadian performers, ACTRA is the equivalent union.

The UDA operates under Quebec's Act respecting the professional status of artists (Bill 90) and the Act to foster the development of manpower training. These provincial laws provide a legislative framework for artist-producer relations that is distinct from the federal labor law regime governing ACTRA and other Canadian unions. Quebec's civil law system (based on French civil law rather than English common law) and the strong cultural protection framework governing French-language media in Canada give the UDA specific rights and negotiating tools not available to unions in other provinces.

Membership Structure and Costs

The UDA has four membership statuses:

Membre stagiaire (Trainee Member): The entry-level status. To become a stagiaire, an artist must fill out an application form and pay a $80 admission fee. Artists who have completed a program of studies at a recognized institution can acquire 15 of the 30 credits required for active membership in a single lump-sum payment at the time of registration. Artists applying based on professional experience (self-taught or with experience outside Quebec) must submit a dossier in French to the UDA's secrétariat général and pay a non-refundable administrative fee for review. The admissions committee meets four times per year. Once accepted, the artist has six months to complete and pay for their stagiaire registration.

Membre actif (Active Member): Requires accumulating 30 credits. Credits are earned by signing UDA contracts and paying for work permits (permis de travail). Each UDA contract generates credits toward active membership. To apply for active membership, the artist must:

• Have accumulated at least 30 credits as a stagiaire (permits must be paid and performances completed)
• Have participated in an information session
• Fill out the active member application form within 60 days of the contract that earns the 30th credit
• Pay the $40 admission fee
• Pay the annual dues of $165 (prorated for the first year)

Membre doyen (Senior Member): Awarded to active members who have reached 40 years of active membership and 65 years of age. Senior members no longer pay the annual $165 dues but must still pay the 2.5% regular contribution on cachets. All rights and benefits of active membership are retained.

Membre à vie (Life Member): An honorary status granted by the board of directors to active members who have rendered eminent services to the UDA and assumed significant union responsibilities. Life members no longer pay the annual $165 dues but must still pay the 2.5% regular contribution on cachets. All rights and benefits of active membership are retained.

Annual Dues and Contributions

Active members must pay annual union dues consisting of:

• Annual cotisation: $165 per year
• Regular cotisation: 2.5% of cachet (performance fee)

This means that in addition to the flat $165 annual fee, members pay 2.5% of every performance fee earned under UDA contracts. A performer earning $2,000 for a role pays $50 in regular cotisation on that contract, plus the annual $165.

Source Deductions

The UDA also collects source deductions from performers' cachets, which fund various programs:

The Caisse de sécurité des artistes (CSA) is the social benefits fund that provides UDA members with access to insurance, retirement savings, and other benefits. COPAR is a parity fund managed jointly with producers. The Fonds syndicale funds union operations.

GMMQ-UDA Dual Membership Agreement

For 2025-2026, the UDA and the Guilde des musiciens et musiciennes du Québec (GMMQ) have established a single cotisation agreement. Artists who are members of both organizations will pay only one annual cotisation, eliminating double billing. To benefit, members must be in good standing with both organizations and submit their UDA membership number through the GMMQ member portal.

Collective Agreements and Rate Scales

The UDA negotiates collective agreements (ententes collectives) with producer associations, individual producers, and public and private broadcasters. These agreements set minimum cachets (performance fees) and working conditions for each sector. The UDA's labor relations service enforces these agreements to ensure that producers respect minimum rates and working conditions.

Key agreements include:

UDA-AQPM Agreement (2025-2030): The agreement with the Association québécoise de la production médiatique (AQPM) covers film and television performers working in French-language Quebec productions. The current rate scale is available as a PDF on the UDA website. This agreement runs through 2030.

The UDA negotiates approximately ten collective agreements per year across all sectors. An artist can negotiate a cachet higher than the minimum specified in an agreement, but a producer cannot pay less than the minimum. Performers should verify their time sheets, payment deadlines, and social benefits through the UDA member portal at uda.ca.

French-Language Production in Quebec

Quebec has one of the most robust domestic film and television industries in Canada, producing French-language content for the Quebec audience through broadcasters including Radio-Canada, TVA, and Noovo, alongside theatrical feature production funded through SODEC (Société de développement des entreprises culturelles) and Telefilm Canada's French-language programs. The UDA's membership covers the performers who work across this domestic production sector.

French-language Quebec cinema has produced internationally recognized filmmakers including Denis Villeneuve, Xavier Dolan, and Jean-Marc Vallée. For these productions, UDA agreements govern French-language Canadian cast members even when the production is co-financed internationally.

Dubbing

A distinctive aspect of UDA jurisdiction compared to ACTRA is the UDA's coverage of dubbing performers. French-language dubbing of foreign films and television for the Quebec market is a substantial industry in Montreal, employing UDA vocal performers to dub English-language and other foreign-language productions into Quebec French. This dubbing community is a significant segment of UDA membership with its own rate structures and working conditions distinct from on-screen performance rates.

What Filmmakers Should Know

For productions shooting in Quebec with French-language cast, UDA jurisdiction applies alongside or instead of ACTRA depending on the language of performance and the production category. The boundary between UDA and ACTRA jurisdiction is determined by the language of the performance and the production's distribution target. Understanding this boundary before casting is essential for Quebec-based productions to avoid compliance complications. Contact the UDA at info@uda.ca or 1-877-288-6682 for jurisdictional guidance.

For international co-productions with French-language Quebec partners, UDA membership requirements for French-language cast and the interaction between Quebec's cultural protection framework and international treaty co-production rules require legal guidance. The UDA's collective agreements set minimum cachets that international co-productions must meet for French-language performers.

For performers seeking UDA membership, the path from stagiaire to actif requires accumulating 30 credits through paid UDA contracts. Artists who completed training at a recognized institution can purchase 15 credits in a lump sum, reducing the number of contracts needed to reach active status. The total cost of becoming an active member includes the $80 stagiaire admission fee, the $40 active member admission fee, and the first year's prorated $165 annual dues, plus the 2.5% regular contribution on every cachet earned.

See Also

For the English-language Canadian performers union, see ACTRA in this directory. For the Directors Guild of Canada's Quebec operations, see Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) in this directory. Use the Indie Film Budget Calculator to budget for UDA minimum cachets and source deductions when planning Quebec-based productions.