The Directors Guild of America has signed a new three-year deal with the AMPTP This dashes the hopes of some that the three "above-the-line" Hollywood labor organizations would negotiate, at more or less the same time and in support of one another, deals that addressed a number of neglected areas, including but not limited to increased home video fees. It was a foolish hope. The DGA especially likes to engage in quick, non-confrontational negotiations. As often as not, they make their gains by accepting some new precedent which is good for them and bad for the other crafts. One of the nastier Writers Guild strikes of my life (there have been many) came about when someone figured out a formula for pay TV compensation that benefitted directors but screwed the writers when it was applied to them. The WGA was in the middle of its own negotiations that year when the DGA suddenly swooped in and made a deal based on that director-friendly configuration.
We have this thing in Hollywood called "pattern bargaining," which essentially means that if one union accepts something, the onus is on the others to accept it. In this case, once the directors had settled, the producers took the position of "The DGA took this pay TV formula so the WGA has to take it," and we wound up in a messy strike, trying to resist taking that rotten (for us) deal. Not long ago, the Screen Actors Guild was forced to accept a DGA-accepted clause that had little impact on directors but which lowered overtime pay for day players and extras.
I guess it sounds like I'm slamming the DGA, but I'm really not. Unions have to do what's best for them at that moment, not what may benefit others in the long run. In a couple of cases, including the just-signed deal, there have been other considerations. The directors' Health Plan Fund is in very bad shape and was in dire need of a quick infusion of cash, which their new deal seems to supply. I just think some of us need to turn loose of the notion that the three guilds will ever link arms, sing a few choruses of "Together, Wherever We Go" and march in lockstep to an across-the-industry revolution. It'll never happen.
At the same time, the Writers Guild — which is still working without a contract — has just come through another in a long series of bitter elections. As usually happens, we had two slates of candidates, one representing the approximate status quo in leadership; the other, dissatisfied with that and determined to march off in new, bolder directions. I found myself in the odd position of agreeing with a lot of the complaints of the rebels, but feeling they lacked the pragmatism or leadership to bring them about. So I voted with the stay-the-course crowd, as did most of the Guild. I think we're probably in trouble, no matter what. Sometimes, it's just a matter of deciding which captain you trust more to be in command when the ship hits the iceberg.