DIRECTORS BACK MORE TALKS ON RIGHTS

MEMBERS of BECTU and the Directors Guild of Great Britain (DGGB) met recently to hear reports on negotiations with industry employers regarding directors’ rights.
Negotiations following the Union and Guild agreement to a three-month suspension of their ‘rights assignment’ campaign.
Negotiations from three organisations, BECTU, DGGB and the Directors and Producers Rights Society (DPRS) were authorised by the meeting to carry on talks with the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and the main employer’s association PACT.
Members were told at the meeting that author’s rights and adequate payment for directors, were at the top of the negotiator’s agenda. Other issues under consideration include the status of directors in production teams during casting and post-production and their working conditions and pay rates.
The three organisations involved believe that status, pay and working conditions have deteriorated over recent years, and have called for improvements in director’s contracts.
Over the past year, the campaign led by the three organisations, has seen hundreds of directors transfer their intellectual property rights to DPRS in order to combine their collective bargaining power.
The employers agreed to start talks on directors’ rights in return for an agreement that until November this year, directors who had assigned their rights to DPRS would still be able to enter into traditional contracts without any payment for their authors’ rights.
Further negotiations are due to start on September 20, the three organisations hope to be able to present a comprehensive package on November 9 which will include new contracts covering the whole TV and film industry.