Directors Guild of America members voted by an “overwhelming margin” to ratify new collective bargaining agreements, the union said on Wednesday.
The new deal was negotiated with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers last year, and approved by the DGA National Board of Directors on Dec. 29, and was sent to members for ratification voting on Jan. 4.
It will see significant royalty hikes for directors in streaming film and TV, as well as top-budgeted theatrical releases. The new agreement also establishes, for the first time, residuals payments for related foreign SVOD services and increases the residuals for high budget feature-length projects.
The DGA, which boasts more than 16,000 members, had a three-year deal with the AMPTP which would have expired on June 30, 2017. The new contract will take effect on July 1, 2017 and will run through June 30, 2020.
“I am happy to report that the DGA membership overwhelmingly voted to ratify the new contract,” DGA President Paris Barclay said in a statement Wednesday. “Our major gains in SVOD residuals, together with our improvements in wages and pensions, were the result of our forward-thinking preparation. With the groundwork already laid in previous negotiations, this new contract embodies what we knew was possible when we established our first New Media agreement nearly a decade ago.”
Negotiations, which began on Dec. 5,concluded on Dec. 23 and were led by Negotiations Committee Co-Chairs Michael Apted and Thomas Schlamme, and the Guild’s chief negotiator, National Executive Director Jay D. Roth.