Ms Teresa Hannick:

As the Senator knows, acting is a precarious profession. Most actors are self-employed. There have been all kinds of legal challenges when trade unions have tried to represent those who are called self-employed. Anti-competition laws have been brought up when unions represent them. Most people who join the acting profession, which is a very difficult profession, and I sometimes wonder how they do it, are there to bring us joy and sadness and they go out and do it. Actors come in as short-term characters. They could be playing somebody buying something. It can be very difficult for people to get permanent employment and be a regular character. If there is any difficulty, somebody's character could be written out as having a terminal illness. It is difficult. When it is temporary work, the problem is what they do for the rest of the month to find other work when all that other work has to be approved because they are on this contract of indefinite duration. It also happens to directors who are involved. It can be difficult.