Union film and TV directors on Friday approved a new three-year deal with Hollywood studios with 87% of voters in favor.
The Motion Picture Directors Guild of America, with 16,321 voters, announced the results, a record turnout, and the deal includes “benefits for wages, global streaming balance, safety, diversity and creative rights.” said to contain
The ratification formally prevents an apocalyptic scenario in which all three of Hollywood’s major labor unions go on strike at the same time. More than 11,000 writers walked the picket line for eight weeks, and many productions were canceled. No talks are scheduled between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, who are negotiating on behalf of the studios. On May 1st, the writers and studio left the negotiating table from afar on major issues.
The contract between the studio and SAG-AFTRA, a guild representing about 160,000 actors, expires next Friday. The Alliance and the Actors Guild began negotiations for a new contract on June 7. It is unclear how the negotiations are progressing. Both sides agreed to a media blackout. The actors voted to approve the strike before negotiations began. (Approximately 65,000 members, or 48% of eligible voters, voted, with 98% supporting the strike.)
“The DGA did not negotiate in isolation,” Guild president Leslie Linka Glatter said in a statement. “We are all united by our writers, actors and staff in our common fight to move the industry forward.”
Some of the director’s priorities were the same as those of the actors and screenwriters, including wages, streaming residuals and concerns about artificial intelligence. Writers Guild leaders said the studio only offered “annual meetings to discuss” artificial intelligence and refused to negotiate beyond the guardrail. The Directors Guild said it had received a “groundbreaking agreement confirming that AI is not human and that generative AI cannot replace the duties of its members.”
However, some of the screenwriter’s demands are more complex than those of the director. Writers Guild leaders put the controversy in urgent terms, calling the moment “realistic” and stating that studios “seem to continue their efforts to destroy the writing profession.” rice field.
Writers Guild leaders vowed to keep fighting, calling the deal studios have made with directors part of a “strategy” for “divide and conquer.” Attendees gathered at the “WGA Strong” rally in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday. Estimated 5,000SAG-AFTRA, the Directors Guild and other members of the Entertainment Trade Union.
