Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong

It's over!

I didn't want to combine my Park City holiday with DGA stuff so here's a separate post.

As has been published all over the media, the DGA officially struck a deal with the Producers last Thursday. I got phone calls from two of my negotiations teammates while I was in Park City and it was appropriate that I was at the bottom of the hill asking details. But it's done and it's a really good deal for our members. We got lots of forward gains with NO rollbacks. On behalf of the AD/SM/PA's that we were representing that was a huge. The Producers came after us in one area that we knew was coming and we fought hard to not lose what we had, and we won. We have some work to do for the future but we're good for the time being. Overall, the deal had some big gains in areas that we've never had before, good rate increases, new media jurisdiction and a few other things. It's a great deal for us.

Going through the past few months of these negotiations has been an amazing experience. I learned so much and was actually never bored. I figured at one point or another, it would get redundant or my eyes would glaze over in some area that I didn't understand but that never happened. It was fascinating every step of the way. I wish I could've been there for the final "we've got a deal" moment where the handshakes took place but oh well. I'm proud of the work that we did and am honored to have been a part of it. The whole process was good for me as a National Board member as well. My first official NB meeting is this weekend and after spending so much time with many other members on the Board, I won't feel like I'll get "who the heck are you?" stares when I walk in. I have great admiration for many of these directors. Their passion for their work and our Guild is astounding. We're all willing to work for what we believe in and not compromise and the "one for all" attitude is impressive. We have some serious rock star directors and some pretty impressive DGA staff members that have lead us to a great deal.

And a little bonus, as we were sitting in the room at the AMPTP one day, I was was reading some of my scrapbook magazines. One of my fellow committee members who's a film AD (pretty much the one person I knew on the film side before this process) saw the magazine and asked if I was a scrapbooker. Of course I am and we totally bonded even more from there. It's the beginning of a great friendship and E, I'm looking forward to it.

I'm proud to be a member of the DGA. Now let's hope the WGA gets their heads out of their butts and can make a deal. One person said to us "The DGA has been working for three years on negotiations. The WGA has been working for three years on a strike." That pretty much says it all. I hope they can figure it out so everyone can get back to work.

posted by Juls @ 11:49 PM