Director's Guild of America strikes deal with studios :: Film & TV News :: Articles

With all the hubbub surrounding the Writers Guild of America strike, it's been easy to overlook another potential conflict on the horizon. The Director's Guild of America's contract was set to run out in just a few months, and has always been a factor in the WGA strike, since though the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has been able to continue much of its production without writers, standing up to both writers and directors simultaneously would certainly be a different matter.

However, an agreement came after a mere six days of negotiations that began last Saturday. Like the WGA's dispute, this new DGA contract is mostly concerned with electronic media and its residuals. Some key parts of the agreement include doubling the residuals DGA members receive for media sold over the Internet, establishing residual rates for ad-supported streaming media and giving the DGA exclusive rights to work on programs produced for Internet distribution.

Chair of the DGA's negotiations committee Gil Cates described the agreement as "groundbreaking and substantial," perhaps because the terms of the agreement are closely in line with what the WGA seeks. The AMPTP has asked that the WGA participate in the informal talks that preceded the DGA negotiations, and while the WGA said it would look into the directors' proposed contract, it seems that they would prefer formal negotiations which they've been trying to get since the studios broke off in early December. "We've been making independent deals, so we're in a negotiating mood," said WGA, West President Patric Verrone.

However, while the DGA's contract is focused on many of the same terms as the WGA dispute, it doesn't achieve what the WGA is looking for in their contract. New Media residuals are less important to much of the DGA's membership, which includes assistant directors and others for whom this is not a major concern. Jonathan Handel, former counsel to the Writers Guild, told the Associated Press, "It shows all the earmarks of the improvements the writers were looking for — but it doesn't achieve them by any means." However, considering that the directors, who are in a significantly stronger position than the writers at the moment, accepted this agreement, it stands to reason that the WGA will take something similar.

Meanwhile, several studios, including United Artists, The Weinstein Company and Worldwide Pants, have reached interim agreements with the WGA. Earlier this week, two more companies announced side deals: Media Rights Capital and Spyglass Entertainment. Considering both the DGA agreement and the proliferation of work deals, it seems likely that as the strike finishes up its 10th week, the WGA and AMPTP are closer to a resolution than they have been in months.

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