The Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) announced today that they have concluded a tentative agreement on the economic and creative rights terms of a new three-year collective bargaining contract. Details of the new agreement will be submitted to the Guild's National Board for its approval at its regularly scheduled meeting on Saturday, Dec. 15. The DGA’s current contracts expire on June 30, 2002.
“We were able to address a number of important issues and successfully achieve some significant gains for our members,” commented Gil Cates, DGA’s Negotiating Committee Chairman. “Given our industry’s—and our country’s—current economic climate, everyone at the table recognized the importance of reaching an agreement without the disruption of production that inevitably comes in the months immediately preceding the expiration of a contract. DGA members and rest of the entertainment community can now completely focus our attention on getting on with business.”
“In addition to incorporating the gains made in the most recent round of negotiations, we were able to address other significant issues for our members,” Cates said. “The entire DGA Negotiating Committee worked diligently alongside the DGA staff to hammer out this agreement. I’d especially like to thank DGA National Executive Director Jay Roth for his leadership and for the many months of hard work and thorough preparation conducted by the DGA staff under his guidance.”
The parties began formal negotiations on Monday, Nov. 26, and reached the tentative agreement today. The DGA had been working on its proposals since early in the year and informal preliminary talks had begun as early as June.
Some of the highlights of the economic agreement are:
- An historic interim settlement that adapts outmoded agreements to the new technologies that are modernizing the method of television production. This new agreement will cover all primetime dramatic programming regardless of whether it is shot on film, traditional videotape, or digital video;
- Improved residuals in areas including foreign, free TV and made for basic cable;
- Fox will pay residual rates at 100% of the network level and contractually will be considered a network in the third year of the contract;
- Directors of feature films for the first time will receive a bonus payment when a sequel is made based on their film;
- The AMPTP agreed to convene a meeting within six months to discuss remedies for runaway production with the DGA and other affected Guilds and unions.
“These negotiations were hard-fought by both sides, and at the end of the day this is an excellent deal for DGA members and for the industry” said DGA National Executive Director Jay D. Roth. “In particular, our new forward-looking “blended” contract will ensure the economic security of DGA members and will provide budgetary certainty to producers as 21st century technology continues to evolve. This was a difficult and complex issue that was resolved with what history will show will be a true ‘win-win’ result for the DGA and the producers.”
A primary issue in the creative rights discussions involved the industry-wide problem of late script delivery in television, which impacts production costs and the ability of TV directors to do their jobs. The Guild and the AMPTP agreed on a process to address this situation.
“The DGA’s Creative Rights Committee worked with the CEOs and network heads to continue the process of defining the role and responsibilities of directors,” said Creative Rights Committee Co-chair Martha Coolidge. “Because of the passion of our Committee members, we were able to reach a deal that preserves the rights of directors in both feature films and television.”
Subject to the approval of the Guild’s National Board, the membership of the DGA will vote on ratification of the new contract.
“The main reason I ran for a third term as DGA President was because I knew the important issues that were facing us in these negotiations, particularly in the matter of how new technologies are affecting production in television,” DGA President Jack Shea said. “I’m pleased we were able to reach accord with the AMPTP in this crucial area, and I applaud the efforts of our negotiations chairman, Gil Cates; our creative rights co-chairs Martha Coolidge and John Frankenheimer; the DGA Negotiating Committees; and the Guild staff.”
“We commend the respective bargaining and creative rights committees of the AMPTP and the DGA for progressive problem solving that led to this agreement,” said Nick Counter, President of the AMPTP, which represented 265 production companies in these negotiations. “Upon ratification, this agreement will provide certainty and stability so that productions may be scheduled for 2002 without interruption.”
