The Directors Guild of America on Thursday ratified a four-year deal with studios and streamers, bringing a close to a quiet year for bargaining between Hollywood’s labor groups and top companies.
The union did not disclose what portion of its membership voted for and against the deal, but said members voted “overwhelmingly” in favor of the deal in its announcement of the ratification.
“This incredible show of support from our membership for this new contract shows the strength of our unity and our solidarity,” union president Christopher Nolan and national executive director Russell Hollander said in a statement. “We have achieved critical wins that put the Guild in a position to further protect our members economic and creative rights now and into the future.”
The DGA, the last of Hollywood’s major unions to negotiate its deals in 2026, represents around 19,500 directors, assistant directors, associate directors, unit production managers and stage managers in the industry.
The deal notably contains the largest-ever employer contribution increase to the union’s health plan in its history. Employer contributions to the union’s plan will increase nearly 25 percent over the course of the agreement’s term and caps on employer contributions will be raised across several categories, though the union and employers did agree that the plan’s trustees will need to make changes to its benefits to keep the plan sustainable in the long term.
To address a decline in jobs for DGA members, the contract committed studios and streamers will send some of their key executives to Washington, D.C. to lobby for a federal film tax incentive. The deal contained restrictions on “affiliated hires” on television shows, or when a non-director on a project takes on an additional job helming an episode (think when a lead actor sits in the director’s chair for an episode). The parties also agreed to sit down and discuss the issue of non-U.S. directors being hired by American companies abroad to work on projects that originate in the U.S.
On generative AI, the union secured a promise that footage generated by AI falls under the director’s creative purview as well as transparency and licensing language in the contract.
More to come.
