DGA’s New Four-Year Deal Prioritizes Jobs, Health Plan Stability and AI Safeguards

The Directors Guild of America has revealed details of its new four-year tentative agreement with Hollywood studios and streamers, highlighting major gains in employment protections, healthcare funding and safeguards surrounding the use of generative artificial intelligence.

The agreement, reached 9 June between the DGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), includes a commitment from employers to advocate for a federal film and television tax incentive, expanded protections related to AI and the largest increase in employer contributions to the guild’s health plan in its history.

In a message sent to members Friday, DGA President Christopher Nolan praised the union’s negotiating committee and outlined the priorities that shaped the talks.

“We entered this negotiation with three main priorities: secure our Health Plan, protect jobs, and ensure that our members remain secure as AI continues to impact our industry. We succeeded in these areas and gained in many others,” Nolan said. “With these gains, a four-year Agreement was both appropriate and necessary to provide stability and potential for growth at a moment when the industry has been experiencing contraction.”

Employment concerns were a central issue for the guild heading into negotiations. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter before bargaining began on 11 May, Nolan noted that television employment among DGA members fell 35 percent in 2024, while film employment declined between 8 percent and 12 percent. Data for 2025 was not yet available at the time.

To address those concerns, the union secured a commitment from studios and streaming companies to send senior executives to lobby alongside the Motion Picture Association and entertainment unions in support of a federal U.S. tax incentive. The deal also introduces new limits on so-called “affiliated hires” in television — individuals who already hold another role on a production but seek directing opportunities despite lacking prior directing experience. The provision is expected to curb the practice of awarding directing assignments to performers or other production personnel pursuing first-time directing credits.

The agreement further calls for discussions between the parties regarding non-U.S. directors working abroad for American companies outside DGA jurisdiction. The guild has argued that such arrangements can create cost disparities that disadvantage union members, particularly in production hubs such as the United Kingdom. In addition, the parties agreed to a labor bulletin prohibiting employers and talent agencies from explicitly excluding DGA directors from consideration for jobs located outside the United States or Canada.

The DGA released the contract details three days after announcing a tentative agreement with the AMPTP. The guild’s national board unanimously approved the deal, sending it to the membership for review ahead of a ratification vote scheduled to conclude on 25 June.

Healthcare funding emerged as another significant area of progress. Under the agreement, employer contributions to the DGA health plan will rise by nearly 25 percent over the life of the contract. Contribution caps will also increase across several categories, including a 62.5 percent increase for film directors and a 37 percent increase for unit production managers.

Like the Writers Guild of America before it, the DGA agreed to health plan adjustments designed to help offset rising healthcare costs. According to tax filings, the plan recorded losses totaling $43 million during the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years. Unlike the WGA negotiations, however, specific benefit changes were not bargained as part of the collective agreement and will instead be determined by the plan’s trustees. The guild said those “certain modest changes” will include “increases in earnings eligibility thresholds, monthly premiums, deductibles and other areas.”

Generative AI was another major focus of the negotiations. Building on the sideletter established in the 2023 contract, the new agreement introduces language that treats footage generated by AI in a manner comparable to footage captured by a camera, placing both within the director’s creative authority.

The deal also includes transparency requirements obligating employers to notify directors when AI tools are expected to be used in a job. In cases where a director’s work is licensed for training a commercial generative AI system intended to create outputs, the union must receive notice and be given the opportunity to request a meeting regarding the arrangement.

Additionally, the AMPTP agreed to finance a new “skills enhancement” program aimed at helping DGA members adapt to emerging generative AI workflows.

On compensation, the contract provides wage increases of 2.5 percent in the first year, followed by 3 percent annual raises in each of the next three years. The agreement also delivers increases in certain residual payments.

Among the other provisions is a requirement that television series include a “pilot directed by” credit on every episode. The parties also committed to meeting within 90 days to negotiate a dedicated documentary agreement covering docuseries, a genre that has previously fallen under the Freelance Live and Tape Television Agreement in some cases.

For the AMPTP, one objective in negotiations was securing a longer-than-usual labor contract similar to those recently reached with writers and actors. The DGA ultimately agreed to a four-year term rather than the traditional three-year cycle, receiving a series of additional benefits in exchange.

The fate of the agreement now rests with the guild’s roughly 19,500 members, who will decide through ratification whether the contract adequately addresses their concerns. DGA National Executive Director Russell Hollander led negotiations for the union, while AMPTP President Gregory Hessinger headed talks on behalf of the major studios and streaming companies.

About Author

SSZee Media

Provider of Quality Entertainment News and Information

See author's posts