President Paris Barclay reported on the Guild’s efforts to improve the economic and creative rights for DGA members who reside and work outside the United States when the London Coordinating Committee (LCC) hosted its eighth annual general membership meeting on November 11. After a cocktail reception in the David Lean Room at BAFTA in London, the evening gave these members living in the United Kingdom and Ireland the opportunity to meet and greet each other and interact with Barclay, DGA National Executive Director Jay D. Roth, and DGA Associate National Executive Director/Eastern Executive Director Russ Hollander.
LCC member Richard Loncraine welcomed the attendees, introduced the other members of the Committee, and gave a brief overview of the LCC’s mission and accomplishments before turning the floor over to President Barclay.
“Nearly 900 DGA members now live outside the US, including approximately 340 here in the UK and Ireland,” said Barclay. “That’s one of the reasons why decades ago we began our work here. We formed the London Coordinating Committee and began holding annual membership meetings here in London. While much has been done since we began our efforts here, Directors in the UK still lack basic collective bargaining rights. We are here to support any effort to improve this situation and to extend DGA agreements to cover your work as well.”
Barclay also covered numerous recent accomplishments of the Guild such recent success of the BA/FLTTA negotiations by the committee chaired by DGA Secretary-Treasurer Michael Apted and Third Vice President Thomas Schlamme, and led by Roth. He explained that part of that success was due to the Guild’s strategy of being extremely informed and remaining flexible in the approach to new challenges and technologies. “This is exemplified by our approach to New Media. In 2007 we negotiated a contract that established DGA jurisdiction in new media as well as compensation for the use and reuse of our members’ work on the Internet, but we allowed the terms to be freely negotiable. Now that New Media is starting to generate some real revenue for our members. Our belief that we must be able to adapt to change, anticipate new business models, and be open to experimentation allows us to grow and evolve so we can best protect our members as the industry itself grows and evolves.”
Barclay also covered the new creative work being done in both television, and lauded the new Commercial Contract negotiated just last month by that resulted in wage increases, significant increases in contributions to the Pension and Health Plans; and established a first-ever diversity program. He also reminded the attendees that the DGA Awards season would soon be here and explained the new change to the television nomination ballot designed to make voting as fair as possible by randomizing the entries. He urged UK and Irish members to take advantage of services the Guild has to offer such as the Visual History Program; to be aware of the benefits available through the DGA-Producer Pension and Health Plans; and acknowledged the guidance of Secretary-Treasurer and past President Apted, National Executive Director Roth, and Associate National Executive Director/Eastern Executive Director Hollander, who serves as the chief executive liaison to the LCC. After expressing his appreciation to LCC Co-Chairs Jim Gillespie and Michael Caton-Jones, and the other members of the committee he summed up his thoughts.
“I can scarcely believe it’s been almost a year and a half since I became DGA President – and that it’s my third time in the UK since then. There are so many things that make me incredibly proud to be President of our Guild. But mostly I’m proud to represent you – the highest honor in my life – and to follow in the footsteps of great leaders of this Guild. It’s a big deal, and one I don’t take lightly.”
About the Committee:
The LCC was established in 2007 by the DGA National Board, which recognized the need to create a coordinating committee in the same way it already has with similarly sized populations of Guild members in San Francisco and Chicago. Alongside Co-Chairs Michael Caton-Jones and Jim Gillespie, the LCC’s members include Directors Tom Hooper, Richard Loncraine, Roger H. Michell, Mike Newell, Chris J. Newman, Jim Sheridan, and David Yates.