DGA Gives Details About Tentative New Studio Agreement to Members

thewrap.com:

which can be read here, breaks down the gains, starting with a 13% compound increase in wages over the three years of the contract.

This includes a 5% increase in the first year, the first time ever that has been negotiated in a DGA contract. The document also says that generative artificial intelligence (GAI) “does not constitute a person” to whom duties performed by DGA members can be assigned to, and that employers may not use GAI “in connection with creative elements without consultation with the director or other DGA-covered employees.

The DGA will also hold twice-yearly meetings with studios to discuss how AI will be used in the future. Other benefits touted in the summary include the first ever guaranteed compensation for post-production work on TV shows as well as “soft prep” pay, which ensures pay of up to $5,000 per week for up to ten weeks once three named crew members are hired for a project.

The DGA says that such “soft prep” pay marks the “first steps towards compensating directors for the signficant amount of free work performed prior to the official greenlighting of a project.”But perhaps the most scrutinized element of the contract will be the negotiated increase in streaming residuals, which the DGA says “captures global [streaming] growth and ensures DGA members share in global distribution of their work.” The DGA says that the largest streaming services will now pay $89,415 for the first three years of use of a one-hour TV series for an overall 21% increase and 76% increase for the foreign residual, while residual payments over three years for feature-length streaming films will increase 34% to $230,250.