Directors Union Reaches Tentative Agreement With Studios

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The Directors Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers have reached an agreement over new media royalties, the organizations announced in a joint statement today.

“Our industry’s creative talent will now participate financially in every emerging area of new media. The agreement demonstrates beyond any doubt that our industry’s producers are willing and able to work with the creators of entertainment content to establish fair and flexible rules for this fast-changing marketplace,” the AMPTP and DGA said in the joint statement.

The agreement may signal a new phase for the Writers Guild of America strike, which is now entering its third month.

WGA members went on strike in November after they were unable to strike a successful deal with the studios over digital royalties.

As a result of the new agreement between AMPTP and the DGA, the two organizations said in their joint statement that they hope this will mean good news for the writers too.

They also called for new talks in the strike.

“Today, we invite the Writers Guild of America to engage with us in a series of informal discussions similar to the productive process that led us to a deal with the DGA to determine whether there is a reasonable basis for returning to formal bargaining. We look forward to these discussions, and to the day when our entire industry gets back to work,” the AMPTP and DGA joint statement concluded.

Hollywood actor George Clooney chimed in following the announcement, also expressing his desire that the news will help out those currently on strike.

"I'm very pleased with the new agreement and I hope it helps speed up the negotiations with the WGA,” he said in a statement to Access Hollywood.

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