The Directors Guild of America has reached a tentative new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers that includes a key provision aimed at protecting directing jobs for career television directors. The agreement limits how many episodes on a scripted series can be directed by actors and other employees who do not have an established directing track record, a move the union says is intended to preserve valuable episodic directing opportunities for members who rely on that work as their primary profession.
The DGA said the measure responds to a sharp decline in production employment, with jobs down about 40% over the past four years, leaving many of its 19,500 members out of work. Under the union’s summary of the deal, the new rule is designed to prevent directing slots from being increasingly filled by people already employed in other roles on a series, while still allowing newer directors who are actively building directing careers to continue working. The discussion has drawn attention to high-profile cases such as actor Noah Wyle, who directed an episode of The Pitt in its second season after previously directing on other shows.
The tentative pact also addresses where productions are made and how union members can keep working when U.S. projects move overseas. The DGA and the studios will create a committee to study how the contract applies outside North America. The union has been pressing for a federal tax incentive to encourage productions to return to the United States, and the studios have agreed that their top executives, not only the Motion Picture Association, will take part in that lobbying effort.
Artificial intelligence is another major part of the agreement. The contract adds updated protections requiring that AI-generated footage remain under a director’s control, along with notice and transparency provisions covering AI training and the use of AI in production. Those terms closely mirror recent gains made by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA. The agreement also creates an employer-funded program to help directors develop AI-related skills, reflecting growing concern across Hollywood about how the technology will affect creative work.
On the financial side, studios have agreed to increase contributions to the union’s health plan in line with health-care inflation and to raise the wage cap subject to those contributions. At the same time, the DGA will have to reduce certain benefits, including by introducing monthly premiums. Specific health-plan changes will be finalized later by the plan trustees. The union’s new contract also includes higher residuals and other job-protection provisions.
The four-year agreement is still tentative and must be ratified by DGA members before taking effect.
