Directors Guild of America (DGA)
The primary US labor union representing film and television directors, unit production managers, assistant directors, and other members of the directorial team.
Overview
The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is the labor union representing directors and members of the directorial team working in film, television, commercials, documentaries, news, sports, and new media in the United States. Founded in 1936 as the Screen Directors Guild, the DGA merged with the Radio and Television Directors Guild in 1960 and has since grown to represent more than 19,000 members across the country.
The DGA is one of Hollywood's three most powerful entertainment unions alongside SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America. Its Basic Agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) governs minimum compensation, residuals, creative rights, and working conditions for directors and their teams on union productions.
Membership and Representation
DGA membership covers a broader range of roles than the title suggests. Full members include directors of film, television, commercials, and new media. The union also represents unit production managers (UPMs), first assistant directors (1st ADs), second assistant directors (2nd ADs), technical coordinators, associate directors, stage managers, and production associates in television and new media.
This breadth of representation means the DGA Basic Agreement governs the working conditions for much of the production management layer on any union set, not just the director themselves. Joining the DGA requires either working on a DGA-signatory production or being hired directly into a DGA-covered position.
Key Protections and Rights
The DGA Basic Agreement establishes minimum guaranteed fees (scale), residual payments for reuse and rebroadcast, pension and health plan contributions, and -- critically for directors -- creative rights provisions. These include the director's right to the first cut of a theatrical feature (a minimum cutting period of ten weeks for features over 90 minutes), the right to have their name removed from a film in certain circumstances, and protection of the director's credit.
The DGA also governs on-set safety standards for directorial team members and negotiates minimum rest periods (turnaround), travel provisions, and meal penalties. Violations of these provisions trigger contractual penalties payable to the affected crew member.
What Filmmakers Should Know
Signing a DGA agreement as a producer commits the production to using DGA-covered directors and directorial team members and to paying DGA-minimums and benefit contributions. For low-budget independent productions, the DGA offers low-budget and ultra-low-budget agreements with reduced minimum rates that make union signatory status financially viable below the studio budget tier.
Directors working non-union risk future eligibility complications if they intend to transition to union productions. The DGA tracks work on non-signatory productions, and joining the DGA requires demonstrating eligibility through covered work.
See Also
For context on how the DGA Basic Agreement interacts with below-the-line union agreements, see IATSE in this directory. For how directorial compensation structures appear in film budgets, see Above the Line vs Below the Line.
