On the eve ot contract talks with Hollywood studios and streamers on Wednesday, the Directors Guild of America (DGA) president has struck a defiant note as negotiators prepare to engage.
“Make no mistake: the current position of the studios is a threat to the economic model that for decades has protected tens of thousands of good, union jobs in our industry,” DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter said in a letter sent to press one week after the Writers Guild of America (EGA) started its current strike.
Glatter outlined the demands of her Guild – which represents 19,000 members – and noted that Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) had “refused to adequately address the writers’ core issues and concerns”.
The DGA’s contract expires on June 30, as does that of SAG-AFTRA who commence their negotiations on June 7. Glatter said that left the DGA “a small window to negotiate”, adding: “We are going to take full advantage of that window to sit across from the AMPTP and fight for our members’ priorities.”
Glatter said her group will, like “our sister guilds”, push for wage increases that address inflation, as well as forward-looking structural changes to residuals formulas that enable members to share in the growth of streaming, and strong and sustainable pension and health plans.
DGA negotiators will also look to expand training, address the issue of long workdays, increase diversity throughout the industry, and protect the entire suite of professionals on the directorial team, which includes assistant directors, unit production managers, associate directors, and stage managers.
Linka and her cohorts have expressed solidarity with the WGA, whose members continue to picket studios, streamers and networks in Los Angeles and New York. After six weeks of intermittent talks, the WGA and AMPTP are still far apart. Both parties have provided their own versions of what happened. Click here for WGA and here for AMPTP versions.
Hollywood companies have begun to notify writers with overall and first-look deals that those arrangements have been suspended.
Disney and Warner Bros Discovery have also informed showrunners employed by studios that they are required to perform their non-writing duties even if the WGA attempts to fire them for performing those duties.
Glatter’s letter appears below:
On Wednesday, the Directors Guild of America will begin negotiations with the major Hollywood Studios. We will fight, no matter what the cost, for a contract that treats our members fairly while allowing us to share in an ever-changing entertainment industry. But we will not yield from the premise that has sustained our industry for the last century: When artists succeed, everyone succeeds.
That’s why this year’s negotiations are about more than reaching a fair agreement for the next three years — they’re about setting the course for the future of our industry.
Like many others, we had hoped the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers would reach a fair and reasonable agreement during the WGA’s negotiating window. But despite six weeks of negotiations, the AMPTP refused to adequately address the writers’ core issues and concerns.
Now, with our contract expiring on June 30, we have a legal and contractual obligation to begin bargaining. And equally important, we have a responsibility to our 19,000 members to negotiate the best deal we possibly can, and we take that commitment extremely seriously.
SAG-AFTRA’s contract also expires June 30. They have announced that they will meet with the studios June 7, leaving us a very small window of time to negotiate. We are going to take full advantage of that window to sit across from the AMPTP and fight for our members’ priorities.
As a longtime working director, I know how big the stakes are in this fight. Many directors and team members don’t know exactly when their next project is due, so they depend on regular, fair residuals to support them between projects. The studios that employ us have either merged with or been purchased by vertically integrated giants who control both production and distribution. This has had a huge impact on our residuals. Their business models have shifted, and they have largely stopped selling the films and television programs we create on the open market, in order to maximize their streaming platforms here and abroad, which has had a huge impact on our residuals.
And as their streaming platforms have gained millions of subscribers around the world, they haven’t allowed directors and our teams to share fairly in the international growth of these platforms or the global distribution of our work.
Make no mistake: the current position of the studios is a threat to the economic model that for decades has protected tens of thousands of good, union jobs in our industry. Studio businesses are built on the creative talent and hard work of directors, writers and actors, producers and craftspeople, and other artisans in the industry. Today, our voices are loud and clear, and we stand united. If the studios wish to be our partners, they must act as if they were. As always, we will follow our research to guide us in the negotiations this year. Our Negotiations Committee, which is made up of over 80 members from across all genres, categories and geographical areas, has spent the last year developing proposals to protect our members now and in future. We are extraordinarily prepared to begin conversations with the studios, equipped with thorough research and analysis of industry trends.
We are ready to fight for a strong, fair contract that treats our members fairly and reinforces our shared interest in building a vibrant and sustainable industry.
What does that mean? In these negotiations, this means securing wage hikes that address inflation and ensuring the sustainability and strength of our pension and healthcare plans. It means negotiating significant increases and thoughtful, innovative structural changes to residuals to allow us to participate in the global growth streaming. This is a goal we share with other guilds. It means protecting our jurisdiction on projects produced abroad for U.S. viewers, and establishing terms and conditions that protect and compensate our member. It means increasing diversity in the industry and empowering underrepresented groups. And it means looking out for the full directorial team – the Assistant Directors, Unit Production Managers, Associate Directors and Stage Managers who sustain every production with their hard labor and professionalism.
To be sure, the coming weeks won’t be easy. It’s clear that our industry is facing an uncertain economic climate. The studios need to be willing to invest in us, our directors, directorial teams and all of our collaborators. We have always fought for our future and will continue to do so. We will stand together to win an agreement that values our work in the same way as it is valued by billions around the world.
