2 Words in the New DGA Contract Have Some Members Worried About AI
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Members of the Directors Guild of America are now poring through the details on the new labor contract that is up for a ratification vote, and some of them are raising objections to the guild’s negotiated protections regarding AI use based on a two-word phrase: “without consultation.”
In the summary of the new contract sent to members on Wednesday, the DGA says that there are new rules in place prohibiting the use of generative AI — the type powering ChatGPT and other text- and image-output tools — “in connection with creative elements without consultation with the Director or other DGA-covered employees consistent with the requirements of the DGA Basic Agreement.”
When asked by TheWrap for clarification on what those requirements are, the DGA pointed to section 7-202 of the DGA Creative Rights agreement with studios, which requires that studios notify and ensure that directors “shall participate in all decisions” with regards to, among other things, “all creative elements in the production of the film, including but not restricted to the script and any revision thereof, casting, employment of artistic and creative personnel, location selection, set design and construction; pre-production, shooting and post-production scheduling.”
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The insiders said the new contract ensures that any use of AI in production will fall under the list of “creative elements” in the contract and requires that the director’s “advice and suggestions shall be considered in good faith” regarding any such proposed changes to those creative elements.
Ivy Kagan Bierman, partner at law firm Loeb & Loeb and chair of its entertainment labor group, said this definition of “consultation” is more legally binding than a requirement to simply notify a hired director of creative changes with regards to AI. The language, she added, is a step forward from what the AMPTP offered the WGA with regards to AI, which was simply an agreement to meet with the guild annually to discuss how such technology would be used in the future.
“In the entertainment industry, there is a recognition that when an agreement calls for consultation, the expectation is that it is meaningful consultation, not just a notice. To the extent that any company were to simply notify a director about the intent to use AI in connection with a creative element change rather than give them a true opportunity to discuss those changes, the DGA could file a grievance,” she said.
But what the “without consultation” phrase doesn’t require is for studios to only move forward with AI usage if a director gives his or her express approval. For some DGA members on social media, that’s not enough protection given their past experience with studio consultation, which they have seen as anything but “meaningful.”
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“‘Consultation’ is a BS line in a deal that’s supposed to suggest some sort of fairness or mutual decision. It’s not,” wrote DGA member Tony Giglio in a since-deleted Twitter thread in which he recounted working on a project in which studio executives acknowledged that they received his notes on their edit of his project but did not use them on the final cut.
While veteran directors might be able to use their clout to push back more against studio changes they object to during consultation, that’s not always the case. Warren Leight, a member of the Writers Guild and Directors Guild and showrunner for “Law & Order: SVU,” said that he is voting against the DGA contract primarily to push for a better residual structure, but said with regards to the AI language that “the right to ‘consultation’ in my experience has always been code for ‘get lost.'”
DGA members have until June 23 to vote on whether to approve the contract negotiated by their leaders with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers or to send them back to the negotiating table to demand a better contract. The DGA is holding Zoom meetings with members to answer questions and persuade them to approve the contract.
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While some members who have publicly announced their opposition said they want better terms on AI and a residual pay structure based on viewership data, others said they are voting no in solidarity with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, believing that rejecting the contract would provide all three guilds with more leverage to negotiate for better terms.
“The leaders of the Directors Guild struck — no pun intended — quite a good deal. It improves everything for everybody across the board… in the Directors Guild,” said “Borat” director Larry Charles in a Twitter video. “So while I’m grateful to be in the Directors Guild, I found my conscience tugging at me, saying, ‘You can’t leave everyone else behind.’ So I voted no to this contract.”
With DGA members debating their new deal, WGA members on strike and SAG-AFTRA members awaiting the results of their guild’s talks with studios, AI will remain a hot topic of debate, with some workers in Hollywood looking for guardrails around a technology that could become a mainstay in production and others viewing it as simply too dangerous to be used.
“The AMPTP should be using all their resources to fight the use of AI. Every developer of AI has come forward expressing the very real danger of the technology. Studios should be lobbying Congress for strict AI laws, developing tech that protects their content,” Giglio tweeted. “DGA, SAG, and WGA should be in concert with the AMPTP to find a way to regulate AI. The fact the AMPTP wants to develop it shows they don’t understand this technology.”
For all of TheWrap’s WGA strike coverage, click here.
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