The Directors Guild of America’s Economic Negotiating Committee reported the economic terms of a new three year collective bargaining agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to the DGA’s National Board, DGA President Jack Shea announced today.
With the current agreement set to expire on June 30, separate talks are still negotiating the creative rights of directors. Directors Martha Coolidge and John Frankenheimer, co-chairs of the Guild’s Creative Rights Committee, are heading up the DGA’s creative rights negotiating team.
"I am gratified to report these terms to the Guild’s National Board," commented DGA Economics Negotiating Committee chairman Dan Petrie, Sr. "I’m confident that our members will see that the terms of this agreement will serve them well as we move into the next century."
The parties met several times before the winter holidays, but began negotiations in earnest at the beginning of January, meeting until 2:30 AM on Thursday, January, 14, before reaching the agreement at 9:30 PM on Friday, January 15.
"The efforts of Dan Petrie, the entire Economic Negotiations Committee, our National Executive Director Jay D. Roth and the Guild staff are to be commended," said DGA President Shea. "I am hopeful that our creative rights issues can be speedily resolved, so that we can take the negotiations process to its conclusion with membership ratification."
Among the highlights of the proposed economic terms are:
Basic Cable: The Guild and the Producers reached an historic agreement regarding dramatic programs produced primarily for basic cable. Previously, each and every program produced for basic cable required the negotiation and execution of an individual sideletter agreement. Moreover, employers were only obligated to hire Guild-covered personnel in the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas. Under the new agreement, qualifying programs (those with budgets of at least $400,000 for 1/2-hour programs, $750,000 for 1-hour programs and $2.0 million for 2-hour programs (add $1.0 million for each additional hour) produced by a signatory company will be automatically covered. The basic cable provisions establish a new minimum for Directors of 2-hour programs and special residuals formulae for basic cable and free television exhibition. In order to encourage productions to remain in the US, it was agreed that for 2-hour motion pictures budgeted below $3.5 million, 1-hour series budgeted below $1.1 million and *-hour film series and prime-time tape series budgeted below $600,000, compensation for below-the-line DGA-covered employees may be paid at 83.5% of the applicable Basic Agreement (BA)/Freelance Live and Tape Television Agreement (FLTTA) minimums. The new agreement also provides nationwide jurisdiction for all dramatic productions for basic cable at all budget levels.
Pension Contributions: Recognizing that often a director begins works on one film in one calendar year and finishes rendering service in the next calendar year, the AMPTP agreed to a change in pension contributions in order to help those directors properly qualify for retirement benefits. Under the new agreement, employers will make pension contributions in both calendar years, so that Directors who work on fewer pictures with longer time commitments will no longer lose justly deserved credit for additional service years.
Multi-camera Film Sitcom Unit Production Managers: The Guild has been deeply concerned in recent years about abuses of the UPM/First AD combination position in multi-camera film sitcoms, the impermissible delegation of UPM duties on such programs, and the failure to accord UPMs adequate prep time, especially on pilots. The parties agreed that a combination UPM/First AD will no longer be permitted on multi-camera film sitcoms. Separate UPMs and First ADs must be assigned to each multi-camera film sitcom. The UPM must be guaranteed minimum prep time. A separate multi-camera UPM Qualifications List will be established, with several criteria for placement.
Industry-wide Residuals Study: The Guild agreed to participate in the industry-wide residuals study.
Wage Increases: All wage rates (including residuals base rates) will increase by 3.5% per annum in each year of the Agreements, effective July 1, 1999, 2000 and 2001.
Network Prime Time rates (including residual base rates) will increase by 3.0% per annum in each year of the Agreements, effective July 1, 1999, 2000 and 2001.
Directors’ salary rates in the FLTTA for Non-Network or Network Non-Prime Time high budget dramatic programs will receive an outsized increase, in order to bring them up to parity with film rates.
The BA and FLTTA rates for Directors of Non-Network or Network Non-Prime Time dramatic programs of 91-120 minutes will also receive an outsized increase. The rates will increase by 5% per annum in each year of the Agreements, effective July 1, 1999, 2000 and 2001. The residual base rates for such programs will increase by the 3.5% per annum general wage increase in each year of the Agreements, effective July 1, 1999, 2000 and 2001.
Daytime serial Directors will receive an outsized increase of 4.0% per annum during each year of the Agreements, effective July 1, 1999, 2000 and 2001. This rate increase will also apply to daytime serial Directors employed under the Network Freelance Directors Agreement.
First Stage Managers on prime time dramatic programs will once again enjoy an outsized wage increase which will bring them closer to the corresponding First Assistant Director wage rates.
Fox Broadcasting Company Prime Time Residuals: The residuals rates for prime time reruns on the Fox Broadcasting Company will again increase, bringing them ever closer to Network (ABC/CBS/NBC) rates. The rates for Fox network reruns will increase 10% effective July 1, 1999 (to 66.5% of the Network Prime Time rates), and will increase by the 3.5% general wage increase in the second and third years of the Agreements (effective July 1, 2000 and 2001).
Residuals Audit: The Producers will once again fund the Guild’s audit program (the Gross Receipts Residual Monitoring Fund) at the same rate as they did under the 1996 Agreements. This program helps pay the Guild’s costs of employing professional accountants to audit the books of the Producers to make sure they are paying the correct residuals and in a timely manner.
Daytime Serials Cooperative Committee: The Guild and the Producers agreed to establish a Daytime Cooperative Committee comprised of Directors and senior executives to discuss creative matters and production problems concerning daytime serials.
Second Assistant Directors’ Work Day: The concern regarding the excessive length of the Second Assistant Directors’ work day has been addressed in part by providing that their defined work day at a "report to" local location is now deemed to end one hour after camera wrap, an increase from * hour. This will bring the defined work day more in line with the actual work day.
After a report by Network Staff Negotiating Committee Chair Max Schindler, the National Board recommended ratification by the membership of a new three-year agreement with ABC, CBS and NBC. The DGA Network Staff Agreement covers network and local station staff employees and Guild-covered freelancers.
"This is an exceptionally good agreement," Schindler said. "In this era of network downsizing, the agreement not only maintains all current staff positions and jurisdictions, but also provides for protection against layoffs and includes increases in wages and fees."
