Directors Guild Makes Deal With Studios What does this mean for writers strike? Source: The Good Ol' Beeb
There might be light at the end of the writers’ strike tunnel after all, after the Directors Guild Of America sealed a deal for the renegotiation of their contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture And Television Producers after just FIVE days of talks.
The DGA’s delegates, headed up by Gil Cates, includes an agreement to double the rate for royalties paid to directors for material streamed on the internet – one of the sticking points in negotiations between the Writers Guild and the AMPTP.
“Two words describe this deal: groundbreaking and substantial,” said Cates. “There are no rollbacks of any kind.”
The deal has been welcomed by WGA leaders, but at the moment there’s still no sign of resolution between the WGA and the AMPTP, who haven’t been actively negotiating for some while.
But with this deal going through – which, by the way, averts the danger of any directors’ strike in the summer – the pressure has increased on the two bodies to get back to the negotiating table, particularly as many members of the Directors Guild are also members of the WGA.
The writers have been striking since November, with the strike disrupting production of many films and TV shows and, perhaps most notably, the Golden Globes. It’ll be interesting to see what happens now – we’re not going to be so bold as to predict a swift resolution, but finally there does appear to be some hope.
This deal, whilst initially looking like a good thing hasn't particularly changed anything for the Writers Guild - other than to put pressure on the writers. The deal seems to be widely regarded as far less than the one the WGA wants and it's believed the DGA have agreed to it because they aren't as dependent on residuals for income. I suspect the strike will go on for a while yet. ... Read More
I think the problem is is that the studios haven't offered the WGA the same deal, seems like the studio are quite happy to pay the directors more money for internet streaming/downloads but aren't as willing to pay the writiers for it. Shows you the studios clearly "respect"
the directors a lot more.
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The writers or the studios heads? Or neither? My understanding was that if the DGA made a deal, the heads could go back to the writers and say "Look, this is what we gave the DGA, we'll give you the same, take it or leave it." Have I got that all wrong? ... Read More
