Hollywood directors overwhelmingly vote to ratify new contract with studios amid WGA strike

On Friday, members of the Directors Guild of America approved a new three-year contract with Hollywood studios and streamers, with 87 per cent of the membership voting in support and making it a record turnout. DGA has 16,321 eligible voters.

Meanwhile, studios like Amazon, Apple, CBS, Disney, NBC Universal, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sony, and CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery are being represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) in the deal.

What's in the three-year deal?

Recommended by the DGA negotiating committee, the contract is being called a "historic" deal for work hours, residuals, wages, and artificial intelligence.

The DGA deal includes annual wage increases of 5 per cent, 4 per cent, and 3.5 per cent. It also addresses some aspects of the use of Artificial Intelligence, reaffirming that AI cannot replace humans. The contract also looks to ban live ammunition on set, following the October 2021 shooting incident at the set of the movie Rust, which resulted in the shocking death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

The contract, for the first time, also includes global streaming video on demand residuals, which would be paid based on the number of international subscribers, resulting in a 76 per cent increase in foreign residuals for the biggest streaming services.

"Our new contract secures gains on wages, global streaming residuals, safety, diversity and creative rights that build for the future and impact every category of member in our Guild," said Lesli Linka Glatter, President of Directors Guild of America.

The tentative agreement prevents a doomsday scenario with three major unions in Hollywood striking simultaneously.

The Writers Guild Strike has been going on for eight weeks with more than 11,000 screenwriters voicing their concerns on the picket lines, bringing several productions to a halt. No resolution has been reached, so far, between the two parties.

Meanwhile, a contract between studios and the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), the guild that represents over 160,000 actors, expires soon. Negotiations between the two started on June 7. It is unclear how those talks are currently going.

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