The DGA says the upcoming film and television contract talks will be “one of the most difficult” in years

DGA executives said today that their upcoming contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers “promise to be an extremely challenging negotiating environment — one of the most difficult and complex we’ve faced in many years.”

DGA National Executive Director Russell Hollander and DGA Negotiations Chair Jon Avnet said in a statement to members that the upcoming talks will be all the more difficult “as studios continue to consolidate and become increasingly vertically integrated and our industry and our industry faces exceptional economic headwinds. nation.”

“In this environment,” they told members, “your strength and support will be more important than ever. We are committed to fighting for an entertainment industry that is fair, safe, equitable, sustainable and accessible to all. We all have an interest in things like wages, residual flow, funding our health and retirement plans, and more. And we are committed to ensuring that the work and contributions of directors and their teams are respected.”

The guild’s current contract expires on June 30, and while no date has been set for when talks will begin, Hollander and Avnet said the guild “has been preparing for negotiations for over a year and a half and listening to us members’ concerns, investigate the issues and consult with industry experts so that we are in the best possible position to achieve our goals.Our strategic negotiation process aims to ensure that we achieve the best possible contract – a goal that we can achieve thanks to your participation and your voice at the table. Our diverse negotiating committees represent every corner of our membership and they have worked diligently to ensure that your priorities are considered during negotiations.”

The WGA’s contract expires on May 1, but in recent negotiation cycles the DGA has come to the negotiating table first, often in preparation for the next guilds. However, that probably won’t be the case this year.

In their update on the DGA website, DGA leaders said: “When deciding whether to negotiate, we are guided by one simple principle: We only start negotiations when we believe we have the most influence over them. possible agreement for DGA Directors and their teams.

“We negotiated a few years early, but only if the studios agree to address our priorities and we’re confident we can get a premium to give them the security they need to advance their summer and fall plans. to complete.” to get. We have used this strategy quite successfully in the past, including our healthcare contracts in 2004 and 2010 and our negotiations in 2014 when we won the industry’s first residual formula for original SVOD projects. Other times we had more influence closer to the end of the contract.

“For nearly a century,” they said, “we’ve used these strategies to make strong, fair deals for our members. In 1939, we won our very first contract after Frank Capra bluffed the producers, knowing that every leading director bank firmly stands behind him. Since then, we have entered into successive agreements to ensure fair wages, residuals ensuring that our Members are fairly compensated for the repurposing of their work, and setting up the DGA’s retirement and health plans to support our members in their retirement to support, reached a landmark agreement in a rapidly changing media environment and was the first union to have a single jurisdiction and Fixed Residues for original content for new media.We also negotiated strong contractual language that we and our guildmates in have enabled us to successfully challenge proprietary arbitration studios and each time we negotiate, we continue to improve our bottom line.

DGA leaders promised their members that six months before the DGA contract expires, “we will communicate with you more often about the preparations for the negotiations, the issues and what is at stake. We want you to be kept informed as the process progresses so that you can contact and communicate with your guild representatives.

“Our industry continues to evolve rapidly, but no matter how many changes we experience, one principle stands firm: the work we create as directors and members of the leadership team continues to entertain billions of people around the world . For our industry to thrive, we need to be able to build a creative and commercial model that allows us to share in the success of what we make together.

“This year’s negotiations are about more than negotiating a strong contract for the next three years – it’s about charting the future of our industry and ensuring the sustainability of hundreds of thousands of quality union jobs.”