DGA and AMPTP Makes a Deal

The Directors Guild of American and the AMPTP have reached a deal in their new collective bargaining agreement. I wish I could tell you what this meant to the future negotiations between the WGA and the AMPTP, but I can’t. I do know that the DGA agreement could really help or really hurt the WGA. I’ll be checking UnitedHollywood.com for analysis (as they are working on it now), and let you know when I understand more.

Here’s an excerpt from the formal press release:

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) announced today that it has concluded a tentative agreement on the terms of a new 3-year collective bargaining agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

• Highlights of the new agreement include:
• Increases both wages and residual bases for each year of the contract.
• Establishes DGA jurisdiction over programs produced for distribution on the Internet.
• Establishes new residuals formula for paid Internet downloads (electronic sell-through) that essentially doubles the rate currently paid by employers.
• Establishes residual rates for ad-supported streaming and use of clips on the Internet.
• “Two words describe this agreement – groundbreaking and substantial,” said Gil Cates, chair of the DGA’s Negotiations Committee, in announcing the terms of the new agreement. “The gains in this contract for directors and their teams are extraordinary – and there are no rollbacks of any kind.”

Formal negotiations between the DGA’s 50-member Negotiations Committee and the AMPTP began Saturday, January 12, and were concluded today. Talks were led by Cates and DGA National Executive Director Jay D. Roth. They were preceded by months of informal discussions and nearly two years of preparation and research by Guild staff and consultants.

“This was a very difficult negotiation that required real give and take on both sides,” said DGA president Michael Apted. “Nonetheless, we managed to produce an agreement that enshrines the two fundamental principles we regard as absolutely crucial to any employment and compensation agreement in this digital age: First, jurisdiction is essential. Without secure jurisdiction over new-media production—both derivative and original—compensation formulas are meaningless. Second, the Internet is not free. We must receive fair compensation for the use and reuse of our work on the Internet, whether it was originally created for other media platforms or expressly for online distribution.”

Continue reading at UnitedHollywood.com

Thanks to The TV Addict for the heads up on the news.