DGA members have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new contract with the Association of Independent Commercial Producers. The DGA’s national board unanimously approved the contract during a special meeting on November 20. DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter said that “This contract contains significant gains for our members and will grow this area of work for years to come.”
The new two-year commercials pact provides for 3% and 3.5% pay raises, depending on job categories, in the first year, and 3% in the second. It also calls for an additional 0.5% increase in employer contributions to the DGA Pension Plan – for total first year economic increases of between 3.5% and 4%.
Other highlights include:
• A 10.5% increase in the base salaries upon which pension and health contributions are made for most directors, which will result in increased retirement benefits while making it easier for them to qualify for health coverage
• An additional mandatory prep day for first assistant directors when there is a substantial change to the production schedule or shooting boards
• Adding Juneteenth as a holiday
Neil Dudich, the DGA’s eastern executive director who led the guild’s negotiating team, said that “Although change is a constant in the commercial industry, one thing that will always stay the same is our determination to maintain the strong commercials contract we have, and steadily improve upon it in a way that makes sense for our members and the commercial producers to thrive together.”