The Directors Guild of America's national board has voted unanimously to recommend a new four-year contract with the studios' bargaining group, the AMPTP, Martin Cid Magazine reported on 13 June, citing Deadline. The guild, now led by Christopher Nolan, presents the deal as lining up with the AI protections writers and actors had already secured, and the unanimous vote was meant to signal that members should read it as part of one settlement with the other two guilds rather than a separate bargain.
Under the agreement, AI-generated footage is handled like footage from a camera or any other technology, which keeps it under the director's control. The licensing and transparency terms follow the WGA and SAG-AFTRA contracts, and the studios will pay for a training programme to keep directors current as the tools change.
Beyond AI, employer contributions to the health plan rise 24.4% over the term, there are new limits on giving episodes to multi-hyphenates who have not directed before, a new "Pilot Directed by" credit covers episodes built on a pilot director's template, and the studios will lobby for federal production tax incentives.
Nolan pushed back on the studios' preference for a five-year term so that all three unions' contracts would expire at the same time, keeping open the option of bargaining together next time. The current contract runs to 30 June, and members were expected to ratify it before then.
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