LOS ANGELES — The Directors Guild of America today announced the details of a proposed sideletter to its contract with the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) that alters the provisions under which the historic possessory credit can be awarded to DGA feature and television film directors. It also offers guidelines for the studios to consider as they are negotiating with individual directors over whether to grant a possessory credit.
"The possessory credit has stood as a trademark of the very best in film direction in all genres since the earliest days of filmmaking," said DGA President Michael Apted. "For more than a year now, the Directors Guild, faced with what we all believe is excessive awarding of possessory credits, has been considering ways to protect the integrity of this credit that is so rich in history and rewarded to those directors with a record of accomplishment and singular vision."
Apted continued, "Directors receive possessory credits because they have the primary responsibility for making a movie. Much as filmmaking is a collaborative art form, ultimately, the vision reflected on screen is that of the director. And the best directors have a signature style, artistry and a level of quality that audiences recognize as a particular brand through a possessory credit."
Apted additionally stated, "The founders of the Guild and many of the greatest practitioners of the craft had a vision of the possessory that, frankly, has been diminished in this era of questionable credits." Apted continued, "And while we certainly don't think that unmerited possessory credits are the worst abuse of credits to be found today, our Guild has never been one to wait for others to clean house before it picks up its broom."
The key provisions in the sideletter include:
- Possessory credits in any form will not be given to a first-time director unless that director brought the property that was the basis for the film to the studio and provided substantial services to its development. Importantly, while the sideletter makes this exception, it also reaffirms the key principle first laid out in the DGA Basic Agreement in 1968 that directors and their employers should have the right to negotiate freely for the possessory credit.
- The mandate to use a "film by" credit in outdoor advertising when there are six or more personal credits to other people has been dropped. This provision was negotiated more than 20 years ago to encourage the studios to limit the number of credits on billboards. In recent years, it has not had this desired result and is inconsistent with the DGA's principled approach to possessory credits.
- Several non-binding guidelines are also spelled out in the sideletter for the Employers to consider when they are weighing whether to grant the possessory, such as whether a director has established a marketable name, a substantial body of work consisting of three or more films or a signature style of filmmaking.
This is the first change pertaining to the possessory credit since 1973, when the provision securing the right of any director to negotiate with the studios such a credit was added to the Guild's Basic Agreement, the contract it negotiates every three years with the labor arm of the studios, the AMPTP. The provision was added after the DGA beat back an attempt by the Writers Guild of America, west to take away the credit from directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Capra, David Lean and King Vidor and assume total control of the credit. "In the 21st Century, it is more important than ever that the DGA and WGA focus on our common interests", Apted added, "If this action serves to reduce the rhetoric on this inter-guild issue and remove an obstacle to relations between writers and directors, all the better."
The Directors Guild of America is a 12,800 member labor organization that protects the economic and creative rights of directors and their teams.
