Director John LiBretto has been appointed chairman of the Director Guild of America’s Network Negotiating Committee which negotiates agreements on behalf of DGA members who primarily work in staff and freelance positions in news and sports. This will be LiBretto’s second time serving as chairman, having also led the DGA’s 2014 Network Negotiating Committee.
Paris Barclay, president of the DGA, said of LiBretto, “His decades of television news and sports experience–combined with his extensive involvement negotiating many prior agreements–will be a tremendous asset to the Guild when we renegotiate our network contracts.”
LiBretto will be joined by director Brett Holey and associate director Scott Berger who will serve as co-chairs of the Committee.
The National Board of Directors unanimously approved these appointments at its recent June meeting. The DGA announced earlier this year that secretary-treasurer Michael Apted and third VP Thomas Schlamme will chair the Feature Film and Television Negotiating Committee.
The DGA’s current Network contracts expire on June 30, 2017.
Backgrounds
As an NBC director for more than four decades, LiBretto began his career with NBC in 1968. After service with the USAF in Vietnam, he returned to NBC and became an associate director, working on news, sports and soap operas. He then became a director for NBC Sports, directing all the major team sports, in addition to directing five Summer Olympics. In the mid-1980s, he became a director for NBC News, where he directed all of NBC’s news programs, predominately Today and Dateline. LiBretto has received 5 Emmy Awards in News and Sports, and a Peabody Award for his work at NBC News. He is currently serving a second term as the Guild’s 6th VP and has served for nearly two decades in various Guild offices including eight terms as an alternate or member of the Eastern Directors Council. LiBretto chaired the 2014 Network Negotiating Committee, and was an active member of the 2005, 2008 and 2011 committees.
Holey is sr. director of NBC News. Holey directs breaking news, prime time and political programming and oversees directors, production and projects for network news. Previously he was director of NBC Nightly News for 18 years. Holey joined NBC after 13 years with ABC News where he worked in a variety of producing and directing roles. Holey was vice-chair of the 2014 Network Negotiation Committee and serves on the DGA’s Eastern Directors Council.
Berger is an associate director on the CBS Evening News. Berger is the assistant secretary-treasurer of the DGA’s National Board of Directors and has served 13 terms on the AD/SM/PA East Council. In addition, he has served on every DGA Network Negotiating Committee since the 1980s, including as vice-chair in the last two rounds of negotiations.
