Directors Guild, producers reach deal

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The Directors Guild of America Thursday reached an agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers after six days of negotiations.

Variety.com broke the news and the DGA confirmed shortly afterward that it had reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP on terms of a new 3-year collective bargaining deal.

"Two words describe this agreement -- groundbreaking and substantial," Gil Cates, chair of the DGA's negotiations committee, said in a statement. "The gains in this contract for directors and their teams are extraordinary -- and there are no rollbacks of any kind."

The DGA and AMPTP began contract talks Saturday and were operating under a media blackout until the announcement.

The guild said the new pact increases both wages and residual bases for each year of the contract; establishes DGA jurisdiction over programs produced for distribution on the Internet; establishes new residuals formula for paid Internet downloads (electronic sell-through) that essentially doubles the rate currently paid by employers; and establishes residual rates for ad-supported streaming and use of clips on the Internet.

"This was a very difficult negotiation that required real give and take on both sides," said DGA President Michael Apted.

AMPTP President Nick Counter said the agreement "surely dealt with some of the most challenging issues we've ever faced.

"In the end, though, both parties were determined to focus on the core issues that are most important to all of us," he said, "and the result is an agreement that breaks important new ground for our entire industry."