The question of how to convince producers to go DGA was the hot topic of conversation at the recent DGA Independent Directors Committee (IDC) reception for independent filmmakers. Committee members Michael Apted and Steven Soderbergh, as well as DGA Assistant Executive Director Elizabeth Stanley, explained how the DGA's Low Budget Agreement addressed many of their concerns and that negotiations are ongoing to address further concerns which indie producers may have.
Soderbergh said, "I think we will remove this obstacle permanently. And I think that will be a great thing for [independent producers] and for us. They'll have better directors, and we'll have more power and more jobs."
Other issues were discussed at the reception as well, both in informal conversations and via a panel of DGA independent directors, many of whom have directed features under the Guild's Low Budget Agreement. More than simply a way to answer questions, however, the panel enabled a genuine dialogue to develop, which proved constructive for both the invited indie directors and the Committee members themselves.
The dialogue touched on creative rights (everything from editing rights to airplane versions of films), Guild joining procedures, the health and welfare program, residuals, the Committee's Director's Finder screenings, the problem of credit elimination on some broadcast networks, and even DVD packaging.
"It was very constructive," said Committee member George Hickenlooper. "The question in particular about the director's creative control over packaging DVDs is something that interests me personally and is something the Committee is committed to addressing."
Several DGA members addressed a common misconception about the Guild — that, as Gary Walkow put it, "the Guild is a big organization which deals only with big movies. That hasn't been the case for years." Walkow pointed out that he is currently making his third movie under the Low Budget Agreement.
The DGA's flexibility in dealing with independent, low-budget productions, in fact, came up quite a bit. Steven Soderbergh said, "Of all the guilds I have worked with, I have found the DGA to be the most flexible and the most forward-looking."
Miguel Arteta put it this way: "With digital filmmaking, the DGA has become more open to doing really ultra-low-budget movies, because now they've become commercially viable. People are taking them seriously, creatively and financially."
Christopher Coppola related a personal story of how immediately after joining the Guild, he was offered a $2.5 million film that the producers did not want to do with the DGA. He called the Guild, who then worked with the producers to crunch the numbers, and made them feel at ease in hiring a Guild directing team. It's worth a phone call, he explained, as the Guild really is willing to be flexible on a case-by-case basis. Coppola added, "The DGA doesn't look down on low-budget filmmaking. They actually are excited by it because that is the future, that is the whole new ballgame."
Michael Apted felt the reception went very well. "I got a sense that you could feel the camaraderie of directors, the feeling we're all in this together. People doing independent films really do need the strength of the DGA behind them, in fact, more so than people who work in the studio system, who have protection agents and all the rest. An organization is as strong as its weakest element."
