DGA Monthly

J U L Y 2 0 2 6 I 3 Dear Members: On June 11, our National Executive Director Russell Hollander, Negotiations Committee Chair Jon Avnet and Vice-Chair Karen Gaviola reported the terms of our new Collective Bargaining Agreement to the National Board at a specially convened meeting. The National Board enthusiastically and unanimously voted to recommend that members vote YES to ratify the Agreements. I am pleased to present the results of the Committee's outstanding work to you for approval and ratification. We entered this negotiation with three main priorities: secure our Health Plan, protect jobs, and ensure that our members remain secure as AI continues to impact our industry. We succeeded in these areas and gained in many others. The result: better wages, a secure Health Plan, higher residuals, expanded creative rights including a new "Pilot Directed By" credit for episodic Directors, better working conditions, and more. With these gains, a four-year Agreement was both appropriate and necessary to provide stability and potential for growth at a moment when the industry has been experiencing contraction. Securing our Health Plan Our top priority was to protect access to health benefits for members now and in retirement. Our approach was to increase the Employer contribution rate and the salary caps on which they are made. The result is a 24.4% increase in contributions over four years — the largest since the Plan was founded — and significant improvements to the caps that range from 32% to over 90% over the term of the Agreement. These gains are essential to maintaining the long-term stability of the Health Plan at a time when health care inflation continues to outpace the broader rate of inflation. Given our low eligibility threshold and growing retiree population, these substantial increases in Employer contributions go a long way to securing the Health Plan — but as with our sister Guilds, the Employers conditioned increased funding on our agreement to recommend benefit changes to the Plan's Trustees, which will include modest increases to the eligibility threshold, annual premiums, and other similar modifications. Together, this will allow the Plan to continue providing access to industry-leading health care. Protecting Jobs Protecting jobs was another central focus of our negotiations, and perhaps the most difficult to achieve in any collective bargaining agreement. I am happy to say that we made meaningful strides in this area. The single most important tool for protecting employment for our members is a competitive federal tax incentive that levels the playing field with foreign countries. Our goal is to bring American productions back to the United States — which is particularly important for our ADs, UPMs, and Location Managers. On this, we secured a written commitment from the companies that their most senior management would engage in meaningful advocacy for a federal production incentive above and beyond the ongoing lobbying efforts of the Motion Picture Association. A Message From DGA President Christopher Nolan DGA President Christopher Nolan. — continued on page 4

• Cover