DGA names Cates negotiating team lead

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. television director-producer Gil Cates will head the Directors Guild of America committee to negotiate a new film and TV contract with the studios.

The DGA's current contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers expires in June 2008.

In the same announcement, DGA said William M. Brady will lead a New York-based committee that will negotiate simultaneously a separate agreement for network news personnel.

Appointments of members to both committees are expected in the spring, the Hollywood Reporter said Friday. The appointments of Cates and Brady were announced Thursday.

Cates said the issue of new media compensation will surely be a discussion topic for the film and TV committee, adding, "New media can be a gray area and a formative area for decades."