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The Directors Guild of America has reached a tentative agreement with the Association of Independent Commercial Producers on a new three-year national commercial contract, the union announced on Friday.
The 19,500-member union’s national board of directors unanimously approved the deal, which has been sent to members for ratification. Members have until Dec. 26 to vote on the deal. “Our Commercial Negotiations Committee secured a strong contract that benefits our members in the commercial industry and supports their careers in the long term,” DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter said in a statement. “I’m confident our significant wage gains, paired with the first-ever AI protections for the Commercial community and provisions nurturing diversity in our industry will drive continued industry growth and stability.”
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The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to the AICP for comment.
The new deal — which, if ratified, would take effect between Dec. 1, 2023 and Nov. 30, 2026 — notably institutes the first generative artificial intelligence regulations in the agreement. Just as the DGA negotiated in its basic agreement earlier in the year, the provisional deal specifies that the work of directors, assistant directors and unit production managers must be performed by a person and generative artificial intelligence does not represent a person. Under the terms of the agreement, directors must receive notice of any utilization of generative artificial intelligence, which “is subject to their [directors’] participation.”
The agreement also raises minimum wage rates by 6 percent in the first year of the agreement, and 4 percent in the second and third years. Second ADs will get an additional 5 percent raise (amounting to an overall 11 percent) in the first year of the contract. (This is notably larger than the wage bumps the union negotiated in its basic agreement, which was 5 percent in the first year of the contract, 4 percent in the second year and 3.5 percent in the third year). The union negotiated a 19 percent bump in the contribution base for health and pension benefits for the majority of non-principal directors, from $10,500 to $12,500 by 2025. The union also won obligatory prep time for second ADs and staffing requirements for second second ADs in certain circumstances, an infusion of funds into the Commercial Directors Diversity Program and the creation of a new committee dedicated to founding a diversity-focused assistant director training program. The new deal also enshrines a ban on live ammunition on commercial sets.
On the union side, negotiations were led by associate national executive director and Eastern executive director Neil Dudich and a negotiating committee of DGA members. Said Dudich in a statement, “There were extremely important issues that needed to be addressed in these negotiations and this new agreement will provide cornerstone protections for years to come.”
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