EXCLUSIVE: As Writers Guild members almost unanimously approved a hard-fought new contract with the studios and streamers this week, and the striking actors back at the bargaining table today with CEOs, the Directors Guild of America really wants its members to know it got them “extraordinary gains” with their deal early this summer.
But not everyone’s picking up what the DGA is putting down.
In an email sent to the guild’s more than 19,000 members today, DGA brass wrote: “We are extremely proud of the contract we negotiated and you overwhelmingly ratified earlier this year. That’s why we’ve been discouraged to see a number of recent news articles and social media posts misrepresenting the extraordinary gains we made.”
They added of the deal struck with the AMPTP back in early June: “The misguided articles and social media posts that seek to misrepresent our contract and sow division between the Guilds only benefit the studios and streamers. We can be proud of our contract and at the same time continue our firm support of our sister Guilds and Unions in the fights for their own fair deals.”
Read the full DGA email below.
“Sounds like damage control if you ask me,” one filmmaker said after receiving the correspondence around noon Wednesday. “The WGA stayed out (on strike) to get what they wanted, SAG-AFTRA are still on strike to get what they want, feels like we settled way too fast. Typical.”
In text threads and more whipping around town, that sentiment was echoed by other DGA members — reminiscent of the distain a number of prominent writer-directors had for the deal before this summer’s ratification vote.
“This could have been written by Carol Lombardini,” another filmmaker, who is a member of both the WGA and the DGA, said of the email, titled “Setting The Record Straight.” “This is why the DGA leadership are so distrusted, they always seem to spin for the studios.”
“Sending this out now is tantamount to interfering in the SAG talks,” another top-tier hyphenate told Deadline.
Several others guild members noted that the DGA correspondence comes as the 160,000-strong actors union returned to deliberations with the CEO Gang of For on Wednesday after a day off. “It leaves a stink, like the guild is a pawn on the AMPTP, trying to push SAG to take a deal,” one DGA member said.
Aware of the criticism of their deal and today’s email, the DGA today said: “Our communication to our members speaks for itself. We are simultaneously proud of what we achieved in our negotiations and steadfast in support of our sibling Guilds in their fight for the best possible deal for their members.”
In a testimonial forwarded from the DGA to Deadline, Black-ish director Michale Spiller added: “I was really happy to receive this letter from the DGA, and I am very proud of the deal we made. All of the guilds are negotiating in uncharted territory and breaking ground in new areas both in AI and the expanding streaming marketplace. The deals are very complex, and full of legal jargon, so trying to make sense of them can be difficult, and I think this letter helped make it more understandable to our members. I marched with the writers, and I am thrilled the WGA has ratified their deal, and as a SAG member I continue to walk the picket line in support of our negotiation too.”
Talks between the AMPTP and the DGA began on May 10, just over a week after the WGA went out on its first strike in 15 years. In a rare realignment of Hollywood labor protocol, the DGA gave its usual first-in-negotiating position to the WGA earlier this year. While the scribes took to the picket lines for what ended up being a bitter almost five-month strike, the DGA entered talks with the AMPTP at the latter’s Sherman Oaks headquarters on May 10 and emerged with a deal almost a month before their previous contract expired June 30.
SAG-AFTRA has been on strike for 91 days and only sat down with Warner Bros Discovery’s David Zaslav, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, NBCUniversal’s Donna Langley and Disney’s Bob Iger, along with AMPTP president Lombardini, for the first time on October 2 at the union’s Wilshire Blvd HQ. With contentious issues like SAG-AFTRA’s revenue sharing proposal, AI and more on the menu, talks have been cordial, serious and methodical so far, according to various sources on both sides of the table.
Here’s the full email:
We are extremely proud of the contract we negotiated and you overwhelmingly ratified earlier this year. That’s why we’ve been discouraged to see a number of recent news articles and social media posts misrepresenting the extraordinary gains we made.
The bottom line is that we negotiated an excellent agreement for our members which contains advancements impacting every category of member in our Guild, secures our economic and creative rights and prioritizes safety and diversity. Everything we won in our deal is focused on building for the future, adapting to the massive changes in our industry and making sure we can all continue to share in the success of what we create. We will be rolling out more specific information in the weeks ahead about the implementation of the following gains.
Our achievements include a number of industry firsts, including a new structure for foreign streaming that will result in a 76% increase in foreign residuals and sets us up to benefit from the explosive growth of streaming around the world. We also established the industry’s first-ever terms and conditions for high-budget non-dramatic programs made for SVOD and significantly increased the number of programs that will now pay residuals, and we became the first union to negotiate compensation, minimums, and creative rights for original dramatic programs made for AVOD. And we were the first union to negotiate artificial intelligence protections that guarantee that generative AI cannot be used to perform your jobs.
In addition to these industry firsts, we also negotiated the largest wage increases in over 30 years, strengthened our health and pension plans, funded a parental leave program, banned the use of live ammunition on set, created the first-ever collectively-bargained pilot program for independent safety advisors on set, established Juneteenth as an additional paid holiday and expanded important diversity and inclusion advancements.
With respect to DGA-specific gains — feature directors will now receive compensation for soft prep which can result in an additional $50K in compensation per project. Episodic television directors also achieved breakthrough creative rights gains and for the first time will be paid for post-production. The addition of two paid post days plus the additional guaranteed shoot day results in a 28% compensation increase for most one-hour series made for Pay TV or SVOD. In addition, we enhanced restrictions on the use of electronic transmission from set and increased director participation in casting. For Assistant Directors, we established a one-hour reduction in the workday with no reduction in pay which will either result in shorter workdays or significantly increased extended-day payments.
And AD/SMs will now receive double-time for work on holidays and seventh days.
We achieved these hard-fought gains because of our unity and resolve, and the more than a year and a half of research and preparation that preceded the start of our formal negotiations, as well as the support we received from our sister Guilds and Unions.
The misguided articles and social media posts that seek to misrepresent our contract and sow division between the Guilds only benefit the studios and streamers. We can be proud of our contract and at the same time continue our firm support of our sister Guilds and Unions in the fights for their own fair deals.
We welcome the news that members of the WGA have ratified their contract with the AMPTP and congratulate the WGA Negotiating Committee and Board for reaching a forward-looking agreement that will benefit their members. Now there are two Guilds who are happy with the advances they’ve made.
We also continue to support SAG-AFTRA in their fight to win a fair deal on behalf of their members. We hope they will soon be the third. And we will be there for the I.A.T.S.E. and Teamsters in their fights next year.
We know the last few months have not been easy. We hear from members every day that being out of work for so long has taken a toll. We know you have faced significant adversity in the form of professional uncertainty and economic hardship. We will continue to offer you support for as long as necessary.
We are fortunate to work in an industry where so many of us benefit from the protection of strong unions. As this year’s collective bargaining cycle continues, we will keep you informed and updated. We all look forward to getting back to doing what we love — working together to create the stories that entertain and enlighten billions of people around the world.