Posts tagged Directors Guild of America
Deal! WGA, AMPTP Reach Historic Contract Agreement to End 146-Day Writers Strike: ‘This Deal Is Exceptional’
September 25, 2023 // The end of the WGA strike will hasten the end of SAG-AFTRA’s walkout. It will also start the process of returning the creative community to its typical cycles of production, distribution, marketing and promotion cycle for content. Production of TV and film has been in state of turmoil since the start of the year when production slowed down in the face of the May 1 deadline set by the WGA’s contract expiration. It was no secret as early as last year that the 2023 round of guild contract negotiations would be challenging, given the level of structural change across TV and film.
“They’re Scared”: 5,000-Plus Demonstrators Rally in L.A. to Support Writers Strike, Pressure Studios
June 23, 2023 // The event ended with some sharp words from Dougherty, the Teamsters Local 399 leader whose profile has skyrocketed during the strike due to her unwavering support of the writers and the fact that many of her members have refused to cross their picket lines. “The studios and the tech companies wanted to push you guys down and try and break you. But guess what? We’re not gonna let that happen. None of us. No fucking way.” Pointing to the La Brea Tar Pits museum, she called the setting for the rally “fitting,” as it showcases some extinct species and, “I think what we need to do with the AMPTP is make them fucking extinct.”
Hollywood’s hot strike summer
June 13, 2023 // SAG-AFTRA members overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike of its own should it not reach a deal by the end of the month. "We are collaborating together more than we ever had in the past," Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, executive director for SAG-AFTRA, tells Axios. "There are a lot of issues we have in common — and even on issues where we don't — we want to support each other." G/O Media, Ziff Davis, Wirecutter, the Miami Herald, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Palm Springs Desert Sun, the Washington Post, NBC News and others have engaged in strikes or walkouts. Unions at the New Yorker, Vox Media and Wired threatened strikes but ultimately resolved their disputes with management.
Actors guild authorizes strike with contract set to expire at end of month
June 7, 2023 // SAG-AFTRA national executive director and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland said in a statement that some of the union's key concerns are that "inflation, dwindling residuals due to streaming, and generative AI all threaten actors' ability to earn a livelihood if our contracts are not adapted to reflect the new realities." Hollywood writers are currently striking after the Writers Guild of America and ATPMP could not agree on a new contract. WGA officials have also cited AI and a lack of residuals brought about by the streaming era as major sticking points. That strike began on May 2 and could last for months.
Hollywood directors reach labor pact, writers remain on strike
June 5, 2023 //
Opinions | The WGA strike is part of a recurring pattern when technology changes
May 31, 2023 // Once again, writers and other workers in Hollywood are facing technological change, this time regarding the use of artificial intelligence in projects covered by the WGA’s Minimum Basic Agreement (MBA). The WGA has proposed that any MBA material be produced by a person, with writing credits to a human, and that no AI be used in the production of literary material for a film. The goal is to secure the jobs and pay of writers, with both initial minimum payments during production and residuals for back-end exhibition. The WGA, which has stronger residuals security and higher payments with studios than with streamers, is looking for closer parity, especially with streaming’s rise in popularity since the coronavirus pandemic. Could AI help script a sitcom? Some striking writers fear so. In a recent example of where the agreements have fallen short, Netflix forced the WGA into arbitration by withholding residuals, ultimately owing $64 million in backdated payments while still refusing to shell out $13.5 million in interest.
Writers Guild Issues Rules for Potential Strike: Writing, Pitching and Negotiating for Work Are Barred
April 27, 2023 // Writers are instructed to “inform the Guild of the name of any writer you have reason to believe is engaged in scab writing or other strikebreaking activity.” Writers are obligated to picket as assigned unless they have an accepted medical exception, personal circumstance or other employment. Writers Guild Issues Rules for Potential Strike: Writing, Pitching and Negotiating for Work Are Barred
‘SNL’ Postproduction Workers Authorize Strike as Contract Negotiations Stall
January 26, 2023 // On Thursday, Jan. 12, the crew of around 20 part-time film editors, editors, assistant editors and media managers voted in a meeting over Zoom to allow their union to order a strike if necessary amid the slow-moving contract talks, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The group, which unionized with the IATSE-affiliated Motion Picture Editors Guild in October, is responsible for postproduction on pretaped sketches, like music videos and commercial parodies, shot before the live show. After the union was voluntarily recognized by NBC management in October, the group has so far only had one bargaining session with NBC, with no additional dates currently scheduled. The Editors Guild sent management a package of proposals in December.
PBS NewsHour Content Creators Reveal Unionization Effort
July 18, 2022 // The workers, who are calling their group the NewsHour Union, announced their organizing attempt on Tuesday. “As the creative engine behind one of the most trusted news institutions in the country, our goal is to strengthen this pillar of American television news by creating a better, healthier and more transparent workplace,” the organizing committee said in a press release, adding that they are hoping to foster “the best workplace in public media.” The group is advocating to include more than 75 workers in the bargaining unit, including reporters, editors, producers, associate producers and others. Most of these workers are based in Arlington, Va., but some are based in the PBS NewsHour West Bureau in Phoenix, Ariz. and others are remote workers living across the country, according to the group. PBS NewsHour is owned by WETA, the Washington D.C.-based PBS member station. WETA, Mary Stewart, Classical radio station, anchors, correspondents,