The Directors Guild of America and the bargaining group representing studios and streamers have reached a tentative deal on a new four-year contract.
The agreement was announced Tuesday after a little less than a month of talks between the directors’ union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Entertainment Producers. The union didn’t give any details of the deal ahead of a review by its national board.
If approved by the board, the fine print of the agreement will be released to members, the DGA stated. The pact would then go to DGA members, a roughly 19,500-strong group of helmers, assistant directors, associate directors, unit production managers and stage managers, for a ratification vote. The parties’ current deal is set to expire on June 30.
“The AMPTP is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with the DGA. We appreciate the hard work and commitment of our guild partners in achieving a fair deal that helps advance a stable and successful entertainment industry,” the AMPTP said in a statement on Tuesday.
The DGA entered negotiations on May 11 with a focus on creating favorable conditions to boost jobs for its members. In 2024, the union saw a 35 percent dip in employment in television and an 8 to 12 percent downturn in film, DGA president Christopher Nolan told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year. (At the time, 2025 data was not yet available.) While the union has been actively advocating for a federal tax incentive in Congress, it was also planning on introducing proposals at the bargaining table with studios.
In part due to this contraction in work, the DGA also sought to bolster its union health plan, which is funded in part by employer contributions when members work. The union aimed to increase those contributions while also acknowledging that changes would likely have to be made to the plan to keep it on a sustainable path.
Generative AI was also a major focus for the union. Nolan told THR that the DGA was seeking a larger role in shaping the use of AI tools and wanted to regulated how members’ work could be transformed by generative AI.
Meanwhile, the studios were eager to enshrine a four-year deal with the directors like they did with writers and actors earlier in the year. In the view of entertainment companies, a deal longer than the typical three-year pacts would ensure labor stability during that time period and allow for longer-term business planning.
DGA national executive director Russell Hollander led the talks for the union, while AMPTP president Gregory Hessinger headed up negotiations for entertainment companies.
