Directors Guild of America Reaches “Historic” Three-Year Agreement with Hollywood Studios and Streaming Broadcasters

The DGA’s negotiating committee called the agreement reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMTP) “historic new three-year collective agreement”. It will submit the agreement to its board of directors on Tuesday.

Recall that a separate strike by members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) over the terms of their relationship with studios and streaming platforms is still ongoing.

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A “historic” agreement

”We have reached a truly historic agreement”said Jon Avnet, chairman of the DGA negotiating committee, quoted by the site Variety. “It brings significant improvements […]. During these negotiations, we secured advances on wages, residual streaming rights, safety, creative rights and diversity, as well as critical protections for our members on key new issues such as artificial intelligence – ensuring that DGA members will not be replaced by technological advancements.”

Highlights of the new agreement include “historic advances” for directors and their teams in the following areas:

• Salaries and benefits: Increase in salaries and benefits: 5% in the first year, 4% in the second year and 3.5% in the third year. an additional 0.5% to fund a new parental leave benefit.
• Residual Global Streaming Rights: Substantial increase in residual rights for dramas intended for SVOD thanks to the implementation of a new structure for payment of residual rights abroad. This results in a 76% increase in foreign residual rights for the largest platforms, so that residual rights for a one-hour episode will now be approximately $90,000 for the first three years of operation.
• Artificial intelligence : Agreement confirming that the AI ​​is not a person and that the generative AI cannot replace the functions carried out by the members.
• Non-drama programs (talk shows and reality TV): Established the industry’s first terms and conditions for directors and their teams on non-drama programs destined for SVOD. Improvement of residual remuneration and, for the first time, participation of associate directors and stage managers in residual remuneration.
• Episode directors: For pay-TV and SVOD, episode makers were granted expanded, paid post-production creative rights, plus a guaranteed additional shooting day for hour-long programs – the first additional day added in more than 40 years. years.
• Security : Advances in safety, including the first pilot program requiring the employment of specialist safety supervisors, the expansion of safety training programs for directors and their teams, and the banning of live ammunition on the plateau.

In addition to these historic advancements, this deal has also increased studio transparency around residual income reporting and improved diversity and inclusion.