June 26, 1999
The Directors Guild of America’s National Board of Directors voted unanimously to recommend ratification of the new three-year collective bargaining agreements between the DGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), DGA President Jack Shea announced today. The vote followed the report to the Board of the recently agreed upon creative terms of the new contract by Martha Coolidge, Co-Chair (along with John Frankenheimer) of the DGA’s Creative Rights Negotiating Committee. Both the report and the vote took place at the Board’s regularly scheduled June 26 meeting at the Guild’s Los Angeles headquarters.
"Since its founding in the mid-1960s, the DGA’s Creative Rights Committee has aggressively negotiated for creative rights provisions that protect directors in every phase of production, from guaranteeing the amount of prep time to ensuring a director’s right to present his or her cut," Coolidge commented. "I’m pleased that we were able to successfully conclude our current negotiations and gain some real victories that will help further the artistic visions of our director-members.
The economic terms of the new contract had previously been reported to the Board by DGA Economic Negotiating Committee Chairman Dan Petrie, Sr., at its January 23, 1999 meeting. [Details of the economic terms are reviewed at the end of this release.] The complete contract will now go to the entire DGA membership for ratification.
"Martha Coolidge, John Frankenheimer and the rest of the Creative Rights Negotiating Committee are to be commended for their extraordinary work," DGA President Shea said. "I am grateful that we were able to successfully conclude negotiations for both the economic and creative terms of this new deal, and I anticipate that our membership will overwhelmingly ratify the new contract."
Among the major provisions of the new creative rights agreement are:
Director’s Cut: On feature films and movies for television incorporating substantial effects - such as a CGI character, or effects which determine plot points - the Director shall be given an opportunity to incorporate reasonable temp effects, which may necessitate additional cutting time, for the preview of the Director’s cut, unless the release date does not permit the additional time required. The parties acknowledge that cost is an element of determining "reasonableness."
Delivery date extended: If the Director of a theatrical motion picture or movie for television has not been given the cutting time prescribed by Paragraph 7-505 of the Basic Agreement, and the original release date is postponed while the motion picture is still in the editing process, the Director shall be provided with additional editing time to the extent available for cutting in order to meet the new release date. In no event shall the Employer be required to provide the Director with an aggregate cutting period (i.e., the period consisting of the original cutting period plus the added editing time) that exceeds the period prescribed by Paragraph 7-505.
Preview: The preview of the Director’s cut shall not be conducted using the "Avid-output" or other substandard process.
Budget and schedules: Employer shall give full and complete disclosure of the below-the-line budget to the Director of a feature film or movie for television at the time the Director is employed or assigned to a film, and provide all subsequent revisions to said budget.
[Clarification:] With regard to a theatrical motion picture, the individuals responsible for approving the budget shall, prior to the budget being set, consult with the Director with respect to its practicality. With regard to a movie for television, if the Director is hired before the budget is approved, the individuals responsible for approving the budget shall, prior to the budget being set, consult with the Director with respect to its practicality.
[Preferred practice, feature films:] Before a feature film final below-the-line budget is approved by the Employer:
1. Employer shall have employed the Director, unit production manager, the first assistant Director and production designer; and
The Director shall have had the opportunity to scout locations and review all key elements of the production.
[Preferred practice, movies for television:] If the Director of a movie for television is hired before a final below-the-line budget is approved by the Employer, then, before said budget is finalized:
The Employer shall employ the Unit Production Manager, First Assistant Director and Production Designer; and the Director shall have the opportunity to scout locations and review all key elements on the production.
[Note: "Preferred practice" means that this provision is to be included in the "Code of Preferred Practices." The Code describes the best way for Directors to work in areas which are not prescribed by contract. The DGA and AMPTP have agreed on these practices, and will circulate the Code throughout the industry.]
Circulation of film materials: With regard to theatrical motion pictures, the parties acknowledge the importance of limiting access to film materials during production and post-production. To that end, Employer will advise the Director of the individuals(s) designated to view dailies and the means of distribution (e.g., cassette, etc.). Employer will consult with the Director regarding the circulation of copies of cut material or of the Director’s cut and the Director will not circulate copies of cut material or of the Director’s cut without the Employer’s approval. When permitted by the Employer, security technologies such as encryption, watermarking, firewalls approved for use by the Employer may be used to identify the Director’s work in progress and the Director’s cut to protect it from unauthorized alteration. This provision will not interfere with the Employer’s need to provide material to marketing personnel, nor the Director’s need to provide material to personnel needed to complete the film (e.g., conferring with an optical house, conferring with a writer about added scenes, etc.).
Paid ads: Visibility of theatrical motion picture Director’s credit and other issues will be discussed with studio’s marketing/design personnel.
Videotape of Performance: If a camera block rehearsal of a multi-camera television motion picture is videotaped so that all camera are recorded (i.e., a "quad split"), no one shall have access to a copy of the videotape without the knowledge of the Director prior to the Director’s cut.
Staging: [Preferred Practice:] The Director of a multi-camera show should be given the opportunity to stage the script at a rehearsal with no one other than the performers present (unless the Director consents to others being present), prior to showing the staging to the producers.
Post-Production Meetings: The parties agree to convene meetings on an Employer-by-Employer basis to discuss the participation of Directors of one-hour series television in the post-production process. It is understood that the Employer will honor requests from the Guild to supply post-production schedules for its one-hour series in conjunction with the meeting with that Employer.
Audience Switchers: The Audience Switcher function is to be performed under the direction of the Director.
Note: The following section, containing highlights of the proposed economic terms of the new contract, is reprinted from a previous DGA press release dated January 23, 1999.
Among the highlights of the proposed economic terms of the new contract are:
Basic Cable: The Guild and the Producers reached an historic agreement regarding dramatic programs produced primarily for basic cable. Previously, each and every program produced for basic cable required the negotiation and execution of an individual sideletter agreement. Moreover, employers were only obligated to hire Guild-covered personnel in the New York and Los Angeles metropolitan areas. Under the new agreement, qualifying programs (those with budgets of at least $400,000 for *-hour programs, $750,000 for 1-hour programs and $2.0 million for 2-hour programs (add $1.0 million for each additional hour) produced by a signatory company will be automatically covered. The basic cable provisions establish a new minimum for Directors of 2-hour programs and special residuals formulae for basic cable and free television exhibition. In order to encourage productions to remain in the US, it was agreed that for 2-hour motion pictures budgeted below $3.5 million, 1-hour series budgeted below $1.1 million and *-hour film series and prime-time tape series budgeted below $600,000, compensation for below-the-line DGA-covered employees may be paid at 83.5% of the applicable Basic Agreement (BA)/Freelance Live and Tape Television Agreement (FLTTA) minimums. The new agreement also provides nationwide jurisdiction for all dramatic productions for basic cable at all budget levels.
Pension Contributions: Recognizing that often a Director begins works on one film in one calendar year and finishes rendering service in the next calendar year, the AMPTP agreed to a change in pension contributions in order to help those Directors properly qualify for retirement benefits. Under the new agreement, employers will make pension contributions in both calendar years, so that Directors who work on fewer pictures with longer time commitments will no longer lose justly deserved credit for additional service years.
Multi-camera Film Sitcom Unit Production Managers: The Guild has been deeply concerned in recent years about abuses of the UPM/First AD combination position in multi-camera film sitcoms, the impermissible delegation of UPM duties on such programs, and the failure to accord UPMs adequate prep time, especially on pilots. The parties agreed that a combination UPM/First AD will no longer be permitted on multi-camera film sitcoms. Separate UPMs and First ADs must be assigned to each multi-camera film sitcom. The UPM must be guaranteed minimum prep time. A separate multi-camera UPM Qualifications List will be established, with several criteria for placement.
Industry-wide Residuals Study: The Guild agreed to participate in the industry-wide residuals study.
Wage Increases: All wage rates (including residuals base rates) will increase by 3.5% per annum in each year of the Agreements, effective July 1, 1999, 2000 and 2001.
Network Prime Time rates (including residual base rates) will increase by 3.0% per annum in each year of the Agreements, effective July 1, 1999, 2000 and 2001.
Directors’ salary rates in the FLTTA for Non-Network or Network Non-Prime Time high budget dramatic programs will receive an outsized increase, in order to bring them up to parity with film rates.
The BA and FLTTA rates for Directors of Non-Network or Network Non-Prime Time dramatic programs of 91-120 minutes will also receive an outsized increase. The rates will increase by 5% per annum in each year of the Agreements, effective July 1, 1999, 2000 and 2001. The residual base rates for such programs will increase by the 3.5% per annum general wage increase in each year of the Agreements, effective July 1, 1999, 2000 and 2001.
Daytime serial Directors will receive an outsized increase of 4.0% per annum during each year of the Agreements, effective July 1, 1999, 2000 and 2001. This rate increase will also apply to daytime serial Directors employed under the Network Freelance Directors Agreement.
First Stage Managers on prime time dramatic programs will once again enjoy an outsized wage increase which will bring them closer to the corresponding First Assistant Director wage rates.
Fox Broadcasting Company Prime Time Residuals: The residuals rates for prime time reruns on the Fox Broadcasting Company will again increase, bringing them ever closer to Network (ABC/CBS/NBC) rates. The rates for Fox network reruns will increase 10% effective July 1, 1999 (to 66.5% of the Network Prime Time rates), and will increase by the 3.5% general wage increase in the second and third years of the Agreements (effective July 1, 2000 and 2001).
Residuals Audit: The Producers will once again fund the Guild’s audit program (the Gross Receipts Residual Monitoring Fund) at the same rate as they did under the 1996 Agreements. This program helps pay the Guild’s costs of employing professional accountants to audit the books of the Producers to make sure they are paying the correct residuals and in a timely manner.
Daytime Serials Cooperative Committee: The Guild and the Producers agreed to establish a Daytime Cooperative Committee comprised of Directors and senior executives to discuss creative matters and production problems concerning daytime serials.
Second Assistant Directors’ Work Day: The concern regarding the excessive length of the Second Assistant Directors’ work day has been addressed in part by providing that their defined work day at a "report to" local location is now deemed to end one hour after camera wrap, an increase from * hour. This will bring the defined work day more in line with the actual work day.