DGA, AMPTP Strikes Deal—WGA on the Way?

"Groundbreaking" Terms for Web

By Juliana Bolden, Emmys.com
January 17, 2008

Los Angeles, CA – After just five days of formal talks (following several months of informal discussions and comprehensive preparation, that is), the Directors Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers reached a tentative "groundbreaking and substantial" three-year deal today, DGA negotiations chair Gil Cates said.

Additionally, the AMPTP extended an invitation to the Writer's Guild of America—now entering its tenth week of a Hollywood-crippling strike—to return to the bargaining table.

“The gains in this contract for directors and their teams are extraordinary," Cates explained. "There are no rollbacks of any kind.”

Among key negotiation items are:

• establishment of DGA jurisdiction over programs produced for web distribution
  
• wage and residual base increases for each contract year
  
• new residuals formula for paid Internet downloads (electronic sell-through), which essentially doubles the rate currently paid by employers
  
• new residual rates for ad-supported streaming content and use of clips on the Internet

Michael Apted: "The internet is not free"

Despite what DGA president Michael Apted characterized as a "very difficult negotiation" requiring substantial compromise, he expressed confidence that the new agreement secures two fundamental principles for the digital media age:

"First, jurisdiction is essential.  Without secure jurisdiction over new media production—both derivative and original—compensation formulas are meaningless," Apted explained in a statement.

"Second, the Internet is not free," he continued. "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.”

See more details of the tentative agreement on the DGA website.

Beginning of shutdown's end?

AMPTP release a joint statement from key studio heads, touting that the "industry’s creative talent will now participate financially in every emerging area of new media" and inviting the WGA to "engage with us in a series of informal discussions" to learn whether a "reasonable basis for returning to formal bargaining" exists. 

"The agreement demonstrates beyond any doubt that our industry’s producers are willing and able to work with the creators of entertainment content to establish fair and flexible rules for this fast-changing marketplace,” said the statement, which was signed by Peter Chernin of Fox, Paramount Picture head Brad Grey, Disney’s Bob Iger, NBC chief Jeff Zucker, and Leslie Moonves of CBS, among other studio officials.

The AMPTP hopes the DGA agreement signals the beginning of the end of this very difficult period the industry, it said. "We look forward to these discussions, and to the day when our entire industry gets back to work."

The WGA responded, vowing to working with both guilds' memberships concerning suitable negotiations strategies and contract goals. “For over a month, we have been urging the conglomerates to return to the table and bargain in good faith," the guild explained. "They have chosen to negotiate with the DGA instead."

Now that those negotiations are completed, the WGA said, the organization hopes the tentative DGA contract will be a "a step forward in (the WGA's) efforts to negotiate an agreement that is in the best interests of all writers."