Initiatives

The fight against Internet theft is the Guild's top legislative priority.

The illegal downloading and streaming of the content made by our members poses a devastating threat to future work opportunities for the hundreds of thousands of working men and women who make up the American entertainment industry and by extension, the millions of people working in jobs at ancillary small businesses that support the production of films and television programs in cities and states across the country.

Additionally, Internet theft also creates immediate economic loss for DGA members because a significant proportion of their compensation and 73% of their pension plan is based on the residual revenues earned from the reuse of film and television productions in secondary markets.

The DGA is actively engaged in this battle. Working with our partners in the entertainment industry, law enforcement, Members of Congress, the White House, and the Administration, we are raising public awareness and lobbying for more aggressive government action to fight Internet theft.

The DGA, along with a coalition of entertainment industry partners, has worked for the past eleven years to promote legislation at the federal, state, and local level that will help keep film and television production in the United States, including the passage of the federal Section 181 incentive (part of the American Jobs Creation Act) and production incentives in numerous states, including New York and California.

In an effort to ensure that the voice of the Guild is heard when important issues affecting the economic and creative livelihoods of our members are being decided in Washington and in state capitals, the DGA Political Action Committee (PAC) was formed in 1996.  The DGA PAC’s Leadership Council was created in 2001 to build a strong base of committed PAC contributors–  prominent members from all categories who represent the needs and interests of the Guild in face-to-face meetings with members of Congress.

The DGA has members who live and work all over the world.  Many of the policy issues that affect DGA members in the United States also affect our members who reside outside the U.S. The DGA also works to protect their interests and concerns by actively working with key elected officials, governmental bodies, and international organizations that represent directors around the world.