DGA votes to ratify contract

Three-year contract kicks in July 1

By CYNTHIA LITTLETON

Apted

Members of the Directors Guild of America have voted overwhelmingly to ratify the guild's new three-year contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

The contract, which kicks in July 1 and runs through June 30, 2011, secured substantial gains for the DGA's 13,500 members in the area of new media residuals and jurisdiction, among other benefits. DGA, as is its custom, did not release the vote tally, but a guild rep emphasized that support among the membership was overwhelming, as expected (Daily Variety, Jan. 18).

Pact was unveiled Jan. 17 after six days of formal negotiations between DGA brass -- primarily national exec director Jay Roth, negotiations chair Gil Cates and prexy Michael Apted -- and the AMPTP. Those sessions followed weeks of informal talks between the sides to hammer out a framework for the formal bargaining.

The groundwork laid in the DGA deal was the catalyst for restarting the Writers Guild of America's talks with the AMPTP after weeks of stalemate between the striking scribes and the majors. And the financial terms of the DGA contract became the template for the WGA pact reached earlier this month, which brought an end to the 100-day writers strike Feb. 12.

In a statement issued Wednesday, Apted cited the precedent-setting nature of the agreement and the guild's success in hammering out an agreement on thorny issues with the majors amid the heightened tensions stirred by the writers strike and the general uncertainty about the long-term health of Hollywood's traditional film and TV businesses.

The new contract sets "a series of important precedents crucial to our survival in this digital age -- among them, jurisdiction in new media, a doubling of the homevideo rate as it applies to electronic sell-through, and the establishment of a gross-based payment in ad-supported streaming while maintaining our historic fixed residuals where there is continued uncertainty about actual grosses," Apted said.

"We entered this round of bargaining steadfast in our belief, borne of 70 years of negotiating experience, that what would make it possible for us to achieve our goals was our 18 months of research and preparation, our understanding of the issues our industry faces, and our willingness to sit across the table and negotiate until a conclusion was reached. We also recognized that this was only the beginning of a series of difficult negotiations and that we are still years away from the time when new media will be our industry's dominant revenue source."

The AMPTP was quick to weigh in Wednesday with a statement praising DGA members for ratifying "the sensible labor agreement." The statement also seemed to cast an eye toward the near future, as the AMPTP still faces what are likely to be contentious contract talks with the Screen Actors Guild.

Our negotiations with DGA proved beyond any doubt that when both parties are prepared to bargain seriously, groundbreaking new media labor pacts can be reached without resorting to harmful and unnecessary strikes," the AMPTP said.

Leaders of SAG, whose contract expires on June 30, weren't shy about criticizing the DGA deal terms.

The WGA contract varied from the DGA in a few areas, principally on writer-centric issues of separate rights and a change in the compensation formula for ad-supported web streaming of movies and TV shows.

WGA is in the midst of conducting its ratification process by mail-in ballot and at membership meetings set for Los Angeles and Gotham on Monday. Results of that vote are expected to be announced Tuesday.