DGA members living in the United Kingdom and Ireland received updates about the Guild’s activities when the London Coordinating Committee (LCC) hosted its Eleventh annual general membership meeting on October 3 in the David Lean Room at BAFTA in London. The evening provided details about the Guild’s efforts to improve the economic and creative rights for members who reside and work outside the United States in a report delivered by DGA President Thomas Schlamme.
Following a cocktail reception, LCC Co-Chair Jim Gillespie welcomed the attendees and gave a brief overview of the Committee’s mission and accomplishments before turning the floor over to Schlamme, who was making his first appearance before the group as President of the Guild.
Schlamme spoke on a variety of subjects including the new top management of the Guild’s professional staff with Russell Hollander taking over as National Executive Director in the wake of Jay D. Roth’s retirement; the recent successful round of negotiations which he and DGA Secretary-Treasurer Michael Apted oversaw as co-chairs of the committee and how many of those new gains are bearing fruit for members in the UK and abroad.
Looking to the future, Schlamme urged those present to continue the work of bringing more projects shot in the region under the umbrella of DGA protection.
“The DGA will continue to work with the London Coordinating Committee on these issues,” said Schlamme. “Change won’t be quick nor will it be easy. But the first and most important step, which has served us all well throughout our history, is standing strong together. It all starts with you. There aren’t many people in our world-wide industry who have the skills to make the caliber of work that you all deliver. And as you do that, the DGA is here to support you to make it a reality, tapping into our eight decades of expertise and experience.” Quoting Apted, whom he thanked for getting him more involved in the Guild 20 years earlier, Schlamme concluded “At the end of the day there’s nothing more powerful than the strength that comes from solidarity. When we are united, there is nothing that can stand in our way.”
Schlamme, Hollander, Apted, DGA Associate National Executive Director Bryan Unger and DGA-Producer Pension and Health Plans CEO Lisa Read circulated after the formal presentation and dinner to answer questions from the attendees. Read had spent the prior two days meeting with UK members in private sessions to answer their questions about their benefits.
About the Committee
The London Coordinating Committee (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 SJ Clarkson, Coky Giedroyc, Tom Hooper, Richard Loncraine, Roger H. Michell, Mike Newell, Chris J. Newman, Jim Sheridan, Matthew Vaughn, Richard Whelan, Susanna White, Stephen Woolfenden, and David Yates.