DGA Decides To Postpone Contract Talks, Strike In Sight
A big labor unrest is growing in Hollywood.
A gray cloud is looming. Strikes have occasionally punctuated the history of Hollywood’s film industry. Still, this year almost all unions (Writers, Directors, and Actors’ guilds) are contemplating them, and this time DGA is setting the page. In a recent message to its 19,000 members, the Directors Guild’s leaders signaled they have decided not to go into contract talks early. They will wait until later this spring, closer to when its bargaining agreement with Hollywood studios will expire. “The decision potentially means the Writers Guild, the Hollywood union that has gone on strike most often, might be able to set the tone for this year’s bargaining as its contract expires in May, before the DGA’s,” writes Anousha Sakoui in a Los Angeles Times article.
Throughout its 87-year history, the Directors Guild of America has staged a strike only once, a walkout in 1987 that lasted minutes. Writers Guild of America is more combative: its last strike, which started in the fall of 2007, ended only in February 2008, causing the paralysis of almost every set in Hollywood. This time DGA indicated that they might let the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA go first, a notable departure from the practice in recent years in which the DGA has preferred to take the lead and establish a bargaining template for other unions.
The perfect storm approaches.
What’s behind the growing unrest? In their message, the guilds leaders addressed sweeping changes in the industry that have occurred during the pandemic and amid a surge in streaming, which has created new job opportunities but also deepened anxieties about how directors, writers, and actors are compensated across multiple new platforms as fewer people watch movies on the big screen.
“This year’s negotiations are about more than bargaining a strong contract for the next three years. They’re about setting the course for the future of our industry and ensuring the sustainability of hundreds of thousands of good, union jobs,” said DGA negotiations committee chairman Jon Avnet and National Executive Director Russell Hollander in a joint statement.
Source: Los Angeles Times
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A big labor unrest is growing in Hollywood.
A gray cloud is looming. Strikes have occasionally punctuated the history of Hollywood’s film industry. Still, this year almost all unions (Writers, Directors, and Actors’ guilds) are contemplating them, and this time DGA is setting the page. In a recent message to its 19,000 members, the Directors Guild’s leaders signaled they have decided not to go into contract talks early. They will wait until later this spring, closer to when its bargaining agreement with Hollywood studios will expire. “The decision potentially means the Writers Guild, the Hollywood union that has gone on strike most often, might be able to set the tone for this year’s bargaining as its contract expires in May, before the DGA’s,” writes Anousha Sakoui in a Los Angeles Times article.
Throughout its 87-year history, the Directors Guild of America has staged a strike only once, a walkout in 1987 that lasted minutes. Writers Guild of America is more combative: its last strike, which started in the fall of 2007, ended only in February 2008, causing the paralysis of almost every set in Hollywood. This time DGA indicated that they might let the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA go first, a notable departure from the practice in recent years in which the DGA has preferred to take the lead and establish a bargaining template for other unions.
The perfect storm approaches.
What’s behind the growing unrest? In their message, the guilds leaders addressed sweeping changes in the industry that have occurred during the pandemic and amid a surge in streaming, which has created new job opportunities but also deepened anxieties about how directors, writers, and actors are compensated across multiple new platforms as fewer people watch movies on the big screen.
“This year’s negotiations are about more than bargaining a strong contract for the next three years. They’re about setting the course for the future of our industry and ensuring the sustainability of hundreds of thousands of good, union jobs,” said DGA negotiations committee chairman Jon Avnet and National Executive Director Russell Hollander in a joint statement.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Share:
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