I am delighted to report to you that the votes are in, and the DGA membership has ratified our new three-year contract. (To see story click here.) According to our agreement with the AMPTP, the Interim Settlement Agreement takes effect immediately and, therefore, will cover the upcoming television pilot season.
This is an historic contract. We've been able to modernize our current agreements so that they become adaptable to ever-changing technology. I want to thank all the members and DGA staff who made up our negotiating teams, bringing their expertise and skills to bear. I want to pay special thanks to our Negotiating Committee Chairman Gil Cates, our Creative Rights Negotiating Co-chair Martha Coolidge and our National Executive Director Jay Roth. Their tireless efforts on our behalf will benefit us for years to come.
Awards season is upon us, giving us the opportunity to formally recognize the enormous talents of our directors and their teams, as well as the lifetime devotion to our craft and to the Guild with the presentation of our special awards — Honorary Life Member (Del Mann), the Robert B. Aldrich Award (Ed Sherin), the Frank Capra Achievement Award (Burt Bluestein) and the Franklin J. Schaffner Achievement Award (Anita Cooper-Avrick).
The DGA is fortunate to have a dedicated roster of members — but our special award winners truly represent the best of the business. Together, they have nearly a century's worth of experience working hard on behalf of your profession and their colleagues. You will be inspired by the interviews with these four outstanding Guild members, but let me point out some of their notable accomplishments here:
Del Mann: Del was propelled into the DGA presidency when, as Vice President, he played a leading role in beating back one of the toughest assaults on every director's creative rights: an effort by the Writers Guild in the late '60s to prevent future directors from negotiating for a possessory credit.
Ed Sherin: As DGA's National Vice President, Ed not only has strengthened the relationships between East and West Coast members, but he also championed the Working in Trade Amendment that put DGA members who were more active in their professions and, therefore, more familiar with current issues facing DGA members, onto Board and Council seats.
Burt Bluestein: The historic 1980–1981 industry strikes got Burt to thinking: "If some schmuck is going to take me out on strike, I want to be that schmuck." He has worked tirelessly for the Guild ever since. Burt is also a founding member of the DGA Political Action Committee (PAC), whose efforts working with lawmakers resulted in the first proposed Senate and House bills to address the problem of runaway production.
Anita Cooper-Avrick: Since Anita joined the Guild in 1980, not a single year has passed that she hasn't served on a committee or council — and the National Board. Despite the busy, often hectic career of a stage manager, she earned a law degree through night courses, then applied her legal training to help solve some of the Guild's most difficult issues — including the new "blended contract."
These are remarkable individuals, and I urge you to read more about them in our special DGA Awards Preview section.
And so it is that we enter this Awards season with a landmark contract in hand and so many people to thank. Yet, one more reason for us all to truly celebrate.
