Members of the Directors Guild of America have voted to ratify their new contract, bringing the industry one step closer to achieving labor peace.
The DGA announced Friday that 87% of the membership had voted in favor of the agreement, with 41% turnout. The guild said the turnout was the highest ever for a ratification vote, with 6,728members voting out of16,321 eligible.
The contract includes a 76% increase in foreign streaming residuals, which was the guild’s top priority heading into the talks. It also includes a “second cut” for TV directors and a pilot program for set safety. It also moves overtime penalties one hour earlier for assistant directors.
The DGA has held several member meetings, both in person and over Zoom, since the tentative agreement was announced on June 3. The leadership has explained the terms of the agreement, which also include provisions on artificial intelligence, family leave, and increases in minimums of 5% in the first year, followed by 4% and 3.5%.
The DGA deal is likely to be the easiest hurdle for the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The DGA has gone on strike only once in its history, for a few minutes in 1987.
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The AMPTP is still in talks with SAG-AFTRA, which represents 160,000 performers. That contract expires on June 30, and the leadership could call a strike if no deal is reached by then.
The AMPTP then must hammer out a deal with the Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike for 53 days. The studio group typically seeks to apply the terms of one guild to the other two in a system of “pattern bargaining,” but both SAG-AFTRA and the WGA have said they will not be bound by the terms of the DGA contract.
In interviews, DGA members generally expressed support for the agreement, though some had reservations about the AI language.
The AI provision — the first in any guild contract — stipulates that generative AI does not constitute a “person,” and states that it will not replace the duties traditionally performed by guild members. But it does not prohibit AI, and mandates only “consultation” on how AI will be used in the creative process. It also does not include provisions governing how AI programs can be trained — which are key priorities for the WGA and SAG-AFTRA.
Many writer-directors, who are members of both the WGA and DGA, had publicly announced they would be voting no in solidarity with the WGA strike.
Some writers also criticized the DGA publicly for reaching the agreement, saying it would have been better to hold off on ratifying until the writers have a contract.
In a statement, DGA President Lesli linka Glatter said that the guild “didn’t bargain in a vacuum” — a subtle acknowledgement to those who said the writers strike boosted the directors’ leverage.
“We stand united with writers, actors and all crew members in our shared fight to move our industry forward,” Glatter said. “We support the actors who are in negotiations and the writers who remain on strike, and we will stand with the IA and Teamsters when they negotiate their agreement next year. We won’t be satisfied until we all have fair contracts that reward us for our creative work — we must create a vibrant, sustainable industry that fairly values us all.”
Had the DGA membership voted down the agreement, negotiators would have been forced to return to the bargaining table.
The DGA’s custom is to announce that members voted to ratify by an “overwhelming” margin, but not to provide the tally.
The last time the guild released the actual results was 1996, when the contract was approved on a vote of 2,949 to 112 — or 96.3% in favor.
