Directors Guild of America and Hollywood Studios Reach Tentative Labor Settlement

Directors Guild of America and Hollywood Studios settle on the same page.

After a bloody struggle, the Directors Guild of America announced Saturday night that it has tentatively signed a three-year labour agreement with Hollywood studios and streamers.

The DGA bargaining committee called the agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers “a historic new three-year collective bargaining agreement.” On Tuesday, it will present the agreement to its board.

Members of the Writers Guild of America are still on strike in a different dispute about the conditions of their dealings with studios and streaming services.

“We have concluded a truly historic deal,” said Jon Avnet, chair of the DGA’s negotiations committee.

“It provides significant improvements for every director, assistant director, unit production manager, associate director and stage manager in our guild. In these negotiations, we made advances on wages, streaming residuals, safety, creative rights and diversity, as well as securing essential protections for our members on new key issues like artificial intelligence – ensuring DGA members will not be replaced by technological advances.”

“This deal recognizes the future of our industry is global and respects the unique and essential role of directors and their teams as we move into that future,” said Lesli Linka Glatter, President of the DGA.

"Historic breakthroughs" for directors and their teams in the following areas are only a few of the highlights of the new agreement.

Wages and benefits: Gains in pay include a 5% increase in the first year of the contract, a 4% increase in the second year, and a 3.5% increase in the third year. 0.5% more to pay for a new parental leave benefit.

Global streaming residuals: By establishing a new residual framework to pay overseas residuals, dramatic SVOD shows’ residuals have significantly increased. As a result, foreign residuals for the biggest platforms have increased by 76%, and for the first three exhibition years, residuals for a one-hour episode will now be about $90,000.

Artificial Intelligence: Agreement stating that generative AI cannot take the place of members in performing their tasks and that AI is not a person.

Non-dramatic programs: Created the first terms and conditions in the business for producers and their teams working on non-dramatic (variety and reality) SVOD programmes. enhanced residuals and the inclusion of associate directors and stage managers in the residuals for the first time.

High-end AVOD terms and conditions: The first terms, working conditions, and residuals in the business for scripted dramatic programmes produced for free-to-consumer streaming platforms like Freevee, Tubi, and Roku. Assistant directors and unit production managers will split the leftovers.

Feature directors: For the first time, feature directors should be paid for the months of "soft prep" they presently complete without being paid before the start of their official prep period.

Episodic directors: The first additional shoot day added in more than 40 years was granted to episodic directors for Pay TV and SVOD. They also secured enhanced compensated post-production creative rights.

Reduction in Hours: The assistant director's day will be cut by one hour.

Safety: There have been breakthroughs in safety, such as the first pilot programme that mandated the hiring of specialised safety supervisors, increased safety training programmes for directors and their staff, and the outlawing of live ammunition on set.

In addition to these ground-breaking achievements, this agreement also improved diversity and inclusion, including Juneteenth as a paid holiday, and many other gains for all categories. It also raised studio transparency in residuals reporting.