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Co-Directing
On many films there are numerous writing or producing credits and it can be difficult to determine who is most responsible for the writing or the producing functions.
This is not the case with the directing credit.
Paragraph 7–208 of the Basic Agreement reads, "There will be only one Director assigned to direct a motion picture at any given time." This provision was hard earned through years of negotiations. The reasoning behind it is the principle of directorial authority. The favorite analogy is that there is one captain for the ship. People know that if they have a question — whether it concerns sets, props, performance or editing, for example — the person to go to for answers is the director. This ensures that the authority does not get divided.
This is a great responsibility for the director. For better or worse, the director will be judged by the final film because he or she is the one responsible for it.
The Basic Agreement allows for other directors on second unit work or those who have special areas of expertise such as underwater work or aerial sequences. However, true co-directing is only allowed by special waiver in the case of bona fide teams.
It is important that any directors wishing to co-direct seek a waiver as early as possible, certainly before beginning a project.
The Guild's Western Directors Council considers all requests for waivers. They study the circumstances and ask the directors questions such as whether the directors have previously directed together or whether a unique relationship exists between the directors where they approach the job as one single director.
The answers to those questions reveal to the Council whether granting a co-directing waiver will undermine the concept of "directorial authority" for all directors.
A waiver is granted only to a bona fide team that has learned to direct as a team and has proven that they function as one directorial mind in two bodies. Past experience as a writing or production team generally is not considered sufficient.
If a waiver is granted, the Council frequently sends a DGA field representative to the set to ensure that the co-directors really do work as a bona fide team and that they aren't just dividing up the responsibilities between them.
Most of the bona fide teams who have received a waiver in the past have had an extensive prior history of working together as directors. Quite often they are family members — the Farrelly brothers, the Hughes brothers, the Wachowski brothers, for example. But familial relationship is not an automatic guarantee of a waiver being granted. There have been instances where a co-directing waiver has not been granted to siblings.
In addition, there have been non-sibling teams who have received a waiver from the Western Directors Council, but they are very few and far between. A waiver is granted very rarely, and the process is approached with great reluctance by the Council because of the effect such a waiver might have on the authority of all directors.
Directors who want to seek a waiver to allow them to work as co-directors should contact the Credits Department at (310) 289-2013 as early as possible so that their request may be presented to the Western Directors Council.
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