© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: People stand atop the Hollywood sign under an overcast sky in Los Angeles, California, US, May 31, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Blake/FilePhoto
Written by Lisa Richwin and Maria Casbani
(Reuters) – Major Hollywood studios have reached a tentative labor agreement with the union that represents film and television directors, likely avoiding a work stoppage that would have added pressure on media companies to settle with striking writers.
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) will require its 19,000 members to agree to a three-year contract, which was announced late Saturday after three weeks of talks.
The agreement includes wage gains and hangovers as well as safeguards around the use of artificial intelligence, according to the DGA, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents Netflix (NASDAQ:), Walt Disney Co. Disney (NYSE: Co) and other major studios.
The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike since May 2, shutting down several TV and movie productions, and not holding new talks with studios.
During the WGA’s last strike in 2007 and 2008, a studio deal with the DGA prompted the writers to return to the negotiating table. On Friday, WGA negotiator Chris Keyser said the strategy wouldn’t work this time.
“Any agreement that gets this city back in business goes straight through the WGA, and there’s no way around that,” Keizer said in a video posted to YouTube.
A WGA representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.
The DGA is set to vote to ratify its new contract on Tuesday. If approved, it could offer a blueprint for amazing writers and upcoming talks between studios and SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents Hollywood actors.
In the DGA agreement, board members received pay increases starting at 5% for the first year, an increase in the remainder of the stream, and a guarantee that “generative AI cannot replace duties performed by members.”
Artificial intelligence has emerged as a major concern for writers and actors, who see their jobs as particularly vulnerable to the new technology.
The WGA and SAG-AFTRA are seeking protections from artificial intelligence in their negotiations as well as compensation increases that they say are lagging behind as companies benefit from the rise of broadcast television.
SAG-AFTRA has asked members to give its negotiators the power to call a strike if necessary, and the results of that vote are expected to be announced on Monday. Contract talks between the actors and the studios begin Wednesday. The current employment agreement expires on June 30.
The WGA outage has disrupted production of late-night shows and halted high-profile projects like Netflix’s “Stranger Things” and “Game of Thrones.”