On Tuesday night, the national governing board for the Directors Guild of America unanimously approved a tentative new deal with the studio. The matter will now go to a vote of the rank-and-file members.
“We are prepared to negotiate a contract that will be future-ready. This is a significant deal with benefits for each director, assistant director, unit production manager, associate director and stage manager,” said DGA President Leslie Linka Glatter. said in a statement,
“Our industry is rapidly changing and expanding, and this agreement is what we need to adapt to those changes, break new ground, and protect the DGA’s 19,000 directors and director team members today and in the years to come. Along with the rest of the DGA National Board, I am proud to enthusiastically recommend this tentative agreement to our members for ratification. Together, we will secure the future we deserve.”
On Sunday, negotiators from the DGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) reached an agreement only after a month of talks. According to the Guild, the deal includes a higher annual percentage increase in minimum rates than the annual percentage increase AMPTP offered to WGA.
Other benefits being touted by the board include an increase in pay and benefits, an increase in global residuals, an agreement – related only to the DGA – that so-called “AI” cannot be used to replace humans, and for the first time a variety of The setting and reality of The Ruins director. Read more about it here.
The DGA board’s vote comes hours before negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP begin. Like the DGA, the current contract of the Actors Guild expires on June 30. But SAG-AFTRA members have shown a far greater willingness to dig into the fight with AMPTP than DGA leaders indicated.
On Monday, SAG-AFTRA members approved the strike authorization with an overwhelming 97.91% majority. This means that SAG-AFTRA’s leadership, moderated by President Fran Drescher and National Executive Director Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, is calling on its members to order a strike if June 30 comes and goes without a new contract. Guild leaders should decide on the AMPTP. not behaving
This is what happened on May 2, when talks between the AMPTP and the Writers Guild of America broke down and the ongoing writers’ strike began. The strike, now in its second month, is showing no signs of abating as the AMPTP refused to budge on several key issues, including the deal with the DGA.
The Writers Guild says the DGA deal will not affect how it moves forward, saying in a statement that “the era of divide and conquer is over.”
