The new Basic Agreement will take effect on July 1, 2008. The new agreement incorporates jurisdiction and fair compensation for the use and reuse of our members’ work on the Internet or other new media platforms. Here’s how the new provisions regarding work in new media will affect you.

Calling In Your Work

Calling in your work when you are hired for a new project is more important than ever when the project is new media-oriented. For some new media projects, your call may be the only way the DGA will even know about the project before production. In some cases, you may be the only DGA person hired to work on the project, so you can’t rely on others to alert the DGA to the project. It is likely that companies producing new media projects may not yet have the infrastructure or the knowledge to report the project through traditional methods. It is important that we make sure the company is adhering to the proper agreement and that we have deal memos before you start working.

Remember, the DGA has secured jurisdiction over new media work. This means that as a DGA member, you cannot work on any non-DGA new media projects. You must make sure that any new media project for which you are hired is a DGA project. Members are our best resource for information about our work in new media. Please keep us informed!

What Has the DGA Been Doing To Prepare?

The DGA set up an inter-departmental staff team to bring the DGA’s internal procedures into conformity with the new contract. So far, the new media team has developed a tracking system for monitoring our members’ work in new media. Please remember to call in your work so that the team has the best and most information possible to keep track of everything. The team is also working on reconfiguring deal memos, forms and procedures to make them applicable to the new media provisions of the contract. Special deal memos and project information forms for new media projects will be posted on the DGA’s website when they become available.

As we move ahead, the new media team will continue to assess the new media landscape and make sure that the DGA is meeting the needs of our members in this new arena.

What If A New Media Project Starts Before July 1, 2008?

If you are hired to work on a new media project before July 1, 2008, you cannot assume that the project will be covered under the new contract. Please call the Contracts line to get assistance in making sure your project will receive the benefits of the new contract.

New Media Fact Sheet

The agreement reached between the DGA and the AMPTP on January 17, 2008 and ratified by the DGA membership on February 20, 2008, contains the following provisions related to new media:

Jurisdiction Over:

• All new media content that is derivative of product already covered under current contracts.
• Original content:
• All original content above $15,000/minute or $300,000/program or $500,000/series, whichever is lowest.
• Original content below the threshold will be covered when a DGA member is employed in the production.

Electronic Sell-Through (Paid Downloads):

• Television: More than doubles the .30% rate currently paid by employers on television programming to .70% when over 100,000 units are downloaded. (Below 100,000 units, the rate paid is .36%, eliminating the former rate of .30%.)
• Feature Film: Rate paid on feature films increases to .65% when more than 50,000 units are downloaded. This is more than 80% higher than the rate paid previously by employers. (Below 50,000 units, the rate paid is .36%, eliminating the former rate of .30%.)

Distributor’s Gross:

• Payments for Electronic Sell-Through will be based on distributor’s gross instead of producer’s gross, a key point in our negotiations. Distributor’s gross is the amount received by the entity responsible for distributing the film or television program on the Internet. We would not have entered the agreement on any other basis.
• Companies will be contractually obligated to give us access to their deals and data, enabling us to monitor this provision and prepare for our next negotiation. This access is new and unprecedented.
• If the exhibitor or retailer is part of the producer’s corporate family, we have improved provisions for challenging any suspect transactions.

Ad-Supported Streaming:

• 17-day window (24-day window for series in their first season).
• Pays 3% of the residual base for each 26-week period following 17-day window, within first year after initial broadcast. (Approximately $667 per 26-week period for network prime time 1-hour dramas in the first year of the contract, $690 in the second year of the contract and $833 in the third year of the contract.)
• Pays 2% of distributor’s gross for streaming that occurs after the fixed residual period.

Clips:

• Provides the companies with limited windows where they can distribute clips of feature films and television programs in new media to promote a program. Provides for payment for all other uses in New Media.

Sunset Provision:

• Allows both sides to revisit new media when the agreement expires.

If you have questions about New Media,
please call the Contracts Line at 310-289-2010