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Early responses are beginning to come in regarding the details of the Directors Guild of America‘s deal with studios and streamers, which were revealed on Wednesday night.
Amid a Writers Guild of America strike, and as performers’ union SAG-AFTRA negotiates with entertainment companies represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers following its own strike authorization, the DGA reached a tentative pact it called “historic.” Some of its members aren’t so sure.
During a Zoom meeting to explain the deal to membership on Thursday, DGA leadership justified the timing of the pact, struck on June 3. “We went as late as one could go within our window” and negotiated for one day later than planned, one guild executive told The Hollywood Reporter, seemingly addressing criticism that the DGA pulled the trigger too quickly rather than holding out for more leverage.
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Guild negotiations team members acknowledged that the union did not get everything it wanted, including a guaranteed additional promotional run and expansion of the DGA’s jurisdiction beyond the U.S. and Canada, “but the things we didn’t get, we’ll get the next time around.”
One guild executive told members during the Zoom that the DGA doesn’t think it did anything to “hurt” the WGA and SAG-AFTRA negotiations still in progress, and the DGA hopes their own deal language will help them. “This is a great deal, just so everybody knows. You got amazing gains,” said one leader.
Speaking to THR, DGA members expressed a range of opinions on the deal. One “hyphenate” (a dual WGA-DGA member) who is voting yes, said that “they did get some significant gains. You have to remember the deal they had before they went into negotiations was already so much better than what we have at the WGA, so anything they add is a plus.” One DGA member liked the deal but is worried it doesn’t do enough on AI protection: “AI can’t replace us, but if they use it for actors and writers, that would create a domino effect that could eventually replace us.”
Others were harder on the pact. Calling the DGA a “Vichy guild,” another dual WGA-DGA member said that while the foreign residuals increase was solid, the annual pay increases did not make up for inflation and the union’s deal made during the 2020 COVID-era negotiations. The AI provision, meanwhile, seemed to this member like a “deal-breaker.” A third member who plans on voting no said, “We need to tie our compensation to the success of our work. The leverage we had was historic and the negotiation committee and DGA leadership squandered it.”
Director Peter Atencio (The Machine) admitted to “mixed feelings” but said he ultimately won’t vote to ratify the agreement. “There are huge gaps that need to be addressed. Chief among them is that we need to go back to being an industry that rewards performance and success, rather than the one-size-fits-all revenue model that we currently find ourselves going towards,” he said.
Added another hyphenate, “I think in any other negotiation cycle, it’s a solid deal. But it’s not ‘groundbreaking’ and it doesn’t meet the moment of our current situation.” Several other members contacted said they still need more time to process the deal language before rendering a judgment.
DGA members have until June 23 at 6 p.m. PT, about a week before their current contract expires, to vote to ratify or reject the pact with the AMPTP. The tentative agreement establishes a new foreign SVOD residuals formula based on a platform’s number of international subscribers and includes a provision on generative AI. It further institutes paid parental benefits and terms and conditions for free AVOD platforms, as well as new creative rights for episodic directors and additional pay for feature directors for “soft prep” time. Language on safety and diversity, equity and inclusion is also included.
Per sources, WGA officials asked members to refrain from commenting or tweeting about the tentative agreement to avoid allowing the AMPTP to split the guilds. Still, several prominent dual members of both the WGA and the DGA expressed resistance to the pact on social media. Duncan Jones (Moon, Warcraft), Steven DeKnight (Daredevil, Pacific Rim Uprising), Sofia Alvarez (Along for the Ride, To All the Boys I Loved Before), Christopher Cantwell (Halt and Catch Fire) and Gary Scott Thompson (The Fast and the Furious) all indicated that they were voting no.
Larry Charles, the hyphenate union member who wrote on Seinfeld and directed Borat, shared a video explaining his decision to reject the deal. “The leaders of the Directors Guild struck — no pun intended — quite a good deal. It improves everything for everybody across the board … in the Directors Guild.” He said, “So while I’m grateful to be in the Directors Guild, I found my conscience tugging at me, saying, ‘you can’t leave everyone else behind.’ So I voted no to this contract.”
Dual WGA-DGA members have a unique perspective: The WGA has been on strike since May 2, and hasn’t gotten back to the bargaining table with the AMTPT. Moreover, there have long been tensions between the two unions due to their sometimes-opposing approaches to labor negotiations: The WGA has traditionally maintained a harder line, mounting a serious strike threat or actually striking, as is the case currently, while the DGA has been less confrontational. The guilds have made several shows of solidarity this year, but in the opinion of many members, the tensions between them are very much still alive.
Other DGA-only members spoke out against the agreement on social media, including Peter Ramsey (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse). “What’s it matter if there are nominal increases residuals if these platforms can disappear your show for tax purposes,” tweeted Matthew A. Cherry (Hair Love, Young Sheldon).
The union’s national executive director Russell Hollander presided over the union’s approach to the talks, assisted by negotiations chair Jon Avent and co-chairs Karen Gaviola and Todd Holland an over 80-member committee. Thomas Schlamme and Nicole Kassell headed up the union’s approach to creative rights. AMPTP president Carol Lombardini led the negotiations for the AMPTP.
Kim Masters contributed reporting.
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