Inside Move: Brake ahead

DGA gathers steam vs. runaway train

By DAVE MCNARY

Hollywood's directors have taken a low-key step toward bringing together all of Hollywood's players on the thorny issue of runaway production.

Though no date has been set for the event, the DGA's newly ratified contract specifies that the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers and the other major Hollywood unions meet to address "possible contract remedies," or concessions, on the issue. "We're willing to make concessions, but only if it brings work here," asserts DGA prexy Jack Shea.

DGA national exec director Jay Roth pledges the confab will take place before July 1, the effective date for the guild's new contract.

The DGA moved to the forefront on runaway production more than three years ago by partnering with the Screen Actors Guild to fund the Monitor Co. report. That report concluded runaway production exacts a toll of $10 billion in annual economic impact to U.S. work. Org also has been a strong endorser of wage-based tax credit legislation aimed mostly at keeping low-budget production in the U.S.