The Directors Guild of America ratified a new three-year labor agreement with television and film production companies after winning pay raises and rights in new media.
Members “overwhelmingly” ratified the Jan. 17 accord with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the group representing the studios, guild President Michael Apted said today in an e-mailed statement without providing a tally.
Directors were the first to gain rights or jurisdiction over material shown on the Internet. The accord provided a framework for talks with the Writers Guild of America, which agreed to similar terms Feb. 9 to end a three-month strike. The directors’ agreement also increases residual payments.
“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 today in an e-mailed statement.
AMPTP members include Burbank, California-based Walt Disney Co., Fairfield, Connecticut-based General Electric Co.’s NBC Universal, Los Angeles-based Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., Tokyo- based Sony Corp. and Time Warner Inc., News Corp., Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp., all based in New York.
