DGA Board Unanimously Approves New Film & TV Contract, Now Headed To Members

The Directors Guild's national board voted unanimously tonight to approve a tentative agreement for a new film and TV contract. The deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which was reached late Saturday night, goes this week to the guild's membership for ratification with the board's recommendation to vote "yes."

Prominent members of the guild's board include Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, 2nd Vice President Ron Howard and 5th Vice President Ava DuVernay.

The deal, which came on the 33rd day of the Writers Guild's strike – and just four days before tomorrow's start of SAG-AFTRA's contract talks – includes significant pay hikes, a 76% increase in foreign residuals for the largest streaming platforms, and assurances that artificial intelligence cannot replace directors or their teams.

"We set out to negotiate a contract that would build for the future. This is a significant deal with gains for every director, assistant director, unit production manager, associate director and stage manager," said DGA President Lesli Linka Glatter. "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 directorial 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."

Commenting on the surge of labor solidarity in the industry, she said that "Across the country, directors and their teams, writers, actors, crews and drivers have shown unwavering resolve in demanding to share in the success of the films and television shows we create together. We are all union members and deserve to be compensated fairly for our contributions. We don't bargain in a vacuum and the gains we have achieved in our tentative agreement would not have been possible without the strong support and unity of our members, and the solidarity of our sister guilds and unions. We continue to support the actors who are entering negotiations tomorrow and the writers who remain on strike. We stand firmly with SAG-AFTRA and the WGA in our shared fight for a vibrant, sustainable industry that fairly values us all."

RELATED: Writers React To Directors Guild-AMPTP Contract Deal: "WGA Takes A Stand, DGA Reaps The Rewards"

After the agreement was reached over the weekend, Jon Avnet, chair of the DGA's Negotiations Committee, called it a "truly historic deal" that includes "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."

Russell Hollander, the guild's national executive director and chief negotiator, said that "Every member of our union can be proud of the gains we’ve achieved across the board. Significantly, and for the first time ever, global SVOD residuals will be paid based on the number of international subscribers. The result is a 76% increase in foreign residuals for the biggest services. As our industry becomes increasingly global, these gains are imperative to ensuring our members are valued and compensated for their incredible work."

According to the DGA, the new agreement includes the following:

The agreement also achieved increased studio transparency in residuals reporting, improvements in diversity and inclusion, the addition of Juneteenth as a paid holiday and many other gains for all categories, the DGA says.

Formal negotiations between the DGA's 80-member Negotiations Committee and the AMPTP began May 10. The guild is expected to release more details about the agreement on Wednesday.

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