Directors Guild of America membership has ratified the new two-year national commercial contract agreed upon by the DGA and the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP). The new pact took effect on Dec. 1, 2009 and runs through Nov. 30, 2011.
The contract calls for the minimum pay rate for all employees to increase by four percent on Nov. 1, 2010. However, there is no increase in the first year of the agreement so as to provide producers with some relief while the industry recovers from the economic downturn.
“This is the first time in the history of the contract that there’s been no increase in the pay rate during the initial year, which is quite telling and shows how the Guild recognizes the state of the economy and its impact on the advertising sector,” said AICP president/CEO Matt Miller.
Among other highlights of the national agreement are modified low budget provisions which have been expanded to include nontraditional commercial projects. This aids the DGA’s organizing efforts in the nontraditional content space while offering AICP member companies the opportunity for certain flexibilities on qualifying jobs.
The new contract also contains measures protecting and securing pension and health benefits for directors. Producers agreed to increase the presumed salary upon which health plan contributions are based by three percent on Dec. 1, ’09, and by an additional three percent on Nov. 1, 2010. This will help ensure that commercial directors receive sufficient contributions so that they qualify for the appropriate tier in the Guild’s health plan.
Creative rights
The DGA also made strides in addressing member concerns via a separate document which accompanies the national commercial contract. The Guild and AICP have agreed on a non-contractual Code of Preferred Practices on Directors’ Creative Rights. DGA creative rights guidelines have long been established in features and TV, and now make their way into the advertising sector.
The recently released practices for commercialmaking set forth guidelines with respect to treatments (reflecting a director’s creative vision, approach and project logistics), selection of key personnel, and directorial involvement in the postproduction process. The Code of Preferred Practices, which is designed to facilitate a change in culture concerning the role of the director in commercial production (while also maintaining ongoing positive practices and creative rights for helmers) has been in the making for about two years. At a couple of separate sessions in New York–one during a break in the 2008 AICP Show events, the other during last year’s AICP Show proceedings–DGA representatives, including a dozen or so commercial directors, met with a cross-section of some 40 ad agency heads of production from around the country and internationally to discuss possible preferred practices. That dialogue between the Guild and the agency community played a key part in the development and formulation of the creative rights document.
Here’s a rundown of the preferred practices provisions:
o At the commencement of the bidding process, the agency shall fully disclose the status of project, including whether the commercial has received the necessary client (and with respect to pharmaceuticals, FDA) approvals and all intended uses of the material.
o In the event that treatments are requested from more than three directors, each director shall be notified of the number of directors for whom treatments are being requested at the time the director is asked to provide a treatment. If the number of directors from whom treatments has been requested exceeds three directors after a director has been asked to submit a treatment, the director shall be provided with such information within 24 hours.
o As an act of courtesy, a director who has been asked to submit a bid or treatment for a project will be informed when a project has been awarded (orally or in writing) to another director on the same day the project is awarded.
o After a commercial has been awarded to a director, the director has the right to resign from the project if the awarded commercial script is replaced by another script or the awarded script has been rewritten beyond recognition.
o The director shall have the right to select the first assistant director, DP and production designer. The director shall be consulted on the employment of all other key personnel, and shall be included in the selection of the casting director, colorist and the editor where the casting director, colorist or editor has not already been contractually hired.
o The director shall be the sole person on set to provide notes to performers and crew.
o During photography, the director has the right to determine who is present at the director’s monitor.
o And the director shall be provided a reasonable period of time–not less than 24 hours per spot after the footage has been prepared and readied to be cut–to deliver the first cut. No one other than the director and editor shall be involved in the edit until the director has delivered the first cut or the exclusive edit period has expired, unless the director notifies the producer that the director cannot deliver a first cut within the exclusive edit period. In the event the director is unable to provide a first cut within the exclusive edit period, the director shall be provided an opportunity to deliver his or her notes to the editor and the editor shall prepare a cut pursuant to director’s notes.
Russell Hollander, Eastern executive director of the DGA, related that among prime director concerns were treatments and disclosure of a project’s status, as well as the opportunity to deliver a first cut.
He noted that treatments have become increasingly complex and costly, and for a director to make such a commitment, he or she should know going in if there’s a reasonable chance at getting the job. Up-front disclosure regarding the status of a project (i.e., is it a real-world job or a client pitch?) is also important. Directors may very well opt, for example, to share their vision for a client pitch but they deserve to know that’s the nature of the project from the get-go.
Hollander said efforts are being made to ensure that directors, production companies and ad agencies are aware of the Code of Preferred Practices on Directors’ Creative Rights. He is hopeful that these Code provisions will gain industry traction.
Diversity
On another front separate from the national commercial contract, the AICP and DGA are looking to promote diversity, opening up more career opportunities for women and ethnic minorities.
A means toward that end is grooming new talent by including more females and people of color in the DGA’s assistant directors training program for commercials.
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More