Earlier in the month, the Directors Guild of America (DGA) reached a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers (AMPTP). Because the WGA Strike is about to reach its second month, and SAG-AFTRA may also strike (depending on how things shake out soon), it initially seemed like the DGA had managed to avoid helping bring Hollywood to a complete standstill. But as it turns out, things aren’t entirely as sunny as they seemed for the DGA.
On late Friday night, the DGA confirmed it had ratified a new version of the agreement they struck with the AMPTP at the start of June. What’s been called an “overwhelming margin” of votes in favor of it isn’t quite true: of the 16,321 eligible voting members, only a reported 41% (or 6,728) actually voted. That 87% number is coming from that turnout, which means that ultimately, it was 35% of the DGA overall who were in favor of the deal.
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The new DGA deal starts on Saturday, July 1 and ends on June 30, 2026, and highlights include directors receiving a 5% wage and benefit increase in its first year (then 4% in year two and 3.5% in year three), a 76% increase in global streaming residuals, and concrete confirmation they won’t be replaced by AI. In a press release, DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter said the new contract “secures gains on wages, global streaming residuals, safety, diversity and creative rights that build for the future and impact every category of member in our Guild.”
Glatter continued by saying that the DGA remained in solidarity with the WGA, SAG-AFTRA, and “all crew members in our shared fight to move our industry forward. We support the actors who are in negotiations and the writers who remain on strike, and we will stand with the IA and Teamsters. […] We won’t be satisfied until we all have fair contracts that reward us for our creative work — we must create a vibrant, sustainable industry that fairly values us all.”
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At time of writing, SAG-AFTRA is currently negotiating with studios for a better deal. If an agreement isn’t reached by Friday, June 30, the actors will go on strike with the writers for however long it takes for both groups to reach they deals they respectively want.
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