Catherwood LibraryILR School

With over six months left before their old contract expires, the Directors Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers reached an agreement yesterday on a new three-year contract. The two sides cited difficult negotiations between producers and the earlier this year, and a resulting slowdown in production drawn out by the September 11 attacks, as powerful motivating factors in the early completion of negotiations. The new contract---which mirrors the agreements reached with the writers' and actors' unions on financial matters---includes sweeteners for the directors of films that spawn sequels, uniform TV contracts regardless of recording format, and a guarantee by producers to meet with Hollywood unions to address the issue 'of runaway productions'(see WIT for December 5, 2001).