Former DGA President Paris Barclay Says Guild’s New Contract “Almost Double What We Got Last Time”

David Robb
·6 min read
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The Directors Guild’s tentative agreement for a new film and TV contract “is the biggest we’ve ever negotiated” and “is almost double what we got last time,” former DGA President Paris Barclay says in a new video posted on the guild’s website featuring members touting the deal.

Barclay, currently the DGA’s secretary-treasurer, served as president from 2013-2017. He also co-chaired the guild’s Outreach Team that supported membership awareness and engagement going into the contract negotiations, which began May 10.

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See the video here.

The DGA doesn’t put a dollar value on its contracts.

While Barclay may have been speaking rhetorically and a bit off the cuff about the gains being “almost double what we got last time,” the 5% pay increase in the first year of the new contract is indeed double the 2.5% pay raise achieved three years ago, while the 4% pay hike in the second year is 33.3% higher than the 3% won three years ago and the 3.5% raise in the third year is 16.7% higher than the 3% achieved in 2020.

DGA officials also say the new contract contains a new residuals structure to pay foreign streaming residuals based on the number of foreign subscribers that will result in a 76% increase in foreign residuals on the largest streaming platforms.

The new deal, which was reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on June 4, is currently up for membership ratification, for which voting will be completed on June 23. The guild’s board, whose members include Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, 2nd Vice President Ron Howard and 5th Vice President Ava DuVernay, voted unanimously to recommend ratification.

The new deal is expected to be overwhelmingly approved by the guild’s members, though some have spoken out on social media in opposition. Larry Charles, Seinfeld writer and Curb Your Enthusiasm director, acknowledged that it’s a good deal for DGA members, but said he’s voting “no” in solidarity with the ongoing WGA strike, which is now in its 43rd day.

“The leadership of the Directors Guild struck – no pun intended – quite a good deal,” he says in a video posted on Twitter. “It improves everything for everybody across the board – in the Directors Guild. I personally will benefit greatly from this new deal. But sometimes we have to do things that aren’t necessarily in our best interest, but perhaps in the interest of the greater good. 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.”

But writer-director Steven DeKnight (Pacific Rim: Uprising) doesn’t even think it’s a good deal for directors, tweeting that it falls short on streaming residuals, artificial intelligence and wages. With respect to wages and benefits, he wrote: “5% increase in the 1st year, 4% 2nd year, 3.5% 3rd year. Sounds pretty good until you realize that according to multiple sources the US inflation rate will be approx. between 2.5 and 3% per year. Let’s be optimistic and say it’s only 2.5% That means the actual real-world gains are now only 2.5% 1st year, 1.5% 2nd year, and a meager 1% 3rd year. Sure sounds like scraps to me.”

The WGA, on the other hand, asked for wage increases of 6%-5%-5%, but was last offered 4%-3%-2%, according to the guild. The DGA got wage hikes almost exactly in the middle.

In the DGA’s new video, Barclay attributes the gains won at the bargaining table to “the strength and the power of the guild negotiating team and the fact that we went in prepared and were very, very explicit about the things we wanted, and for the most part we got them. This contract is broader; it covers more areas of DGA membership and gives greater protections and to a greater group than we’ve ever had before. And so, for me it’s an enthusiastic ‘yes.’”

He also noted that the new pact contains “a prohibition against using AI to do any of the things the directors or the director’s team do. So just think about that for a moment. You have for the first time in a contract a prohibition against taking our jobs away and giving them to a computer. And that’s a first. And that’s only the beginning,” he said.

DGA President Lesli Linka Glatter says in the video that the new contract “set the precedent for what’s to come, and that was one of the things we set out to do, is protect our members creatively for the future.”

The video was taped this past weekend when the guild hosted an informational meeting in New York to familiarize members with the provision of the tentative agreement on the new Freelance Live and Tape Television Agreement.

“It’s maybe the best FLTTA and basic agreement that I’ve seen as a member of the board for 20 years,” says associate director Dennis Mazzocco, who serves as a second alternate DGA board member.

“I’m voting ‘yes’ because this is a great deal for us,” director Benny Bloom says in the video.

“The gain in terms of residuals is tremendous,” stage manager and associate director Terry Benson says in the video. “It really brings all of us in the guild, all of the many categories, together. The wages are good, but mostly it’s because it really brings all of us in the guild – all of the many categories in the guild – together in a way that we really haven’t done in many cases in the past.”

“As an AD/UPM member, I think it really helps us with our wages and our working hours, and I really care about the safety aspects of this,” says first assistant director Joseph Reedy. One of the safety provisions of the new contract prohibits live ammunition from being present on sets.

“This is an amazing deal for the DGA, not only for directors, but for all of our members,” says director Annetta Marion.

“I’m excited about the SVOD residuals for the directors and the director team members,” says associate director Joyce Thomas, who serves as the DGA’s assistant secretary-treasurer. “I’m excited about parental leave; I’m excited about the Juneteenth holiday being added. I’m excited about our AD/SM/Pas being give 200% on working on a holiday and also for the seventh day. I’m excited about the diversity and inclusion clause.”

On Saturday, the DGA will hold its annual membership meeting in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton, followed by a June 21 membership meeting in New York at the DGA NY Theater.

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