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Released by Angel Studios, “The Last Rodeo” is directed and co-produced by award-winner Jon Avnet and written by Derek Presley and lead actor Neal McDonough. McDonough’s real-life wife, Ruvé McDonough, also appears as his character’s wife, adding a personal touch to the story.

Joe Wainwright is a retired rodeo legend and widower with a strained relationship with his daughter, Sally. Adrift after the loss of his wife and his career, he has severed all ties to his bull riding past is currently making a living as a herder. However, when his grandson is diagnosed with a brain tumor, the urgent need for money forces him back into the world he once abandoned. To return, he must mend broken relationships and face his old life head-on. His journey begins with reconnecting with his longtime friend and former right-hand man, Charlie, and leads him to Jimmy Mack, a key figure in securing his reinstatement.

Oscar-nominated director Atom Egoyan and writer-director Eric Nazarian engaged in an inspiring conversation on the eve of the theatrical release of Nazarian’s latest feature Die Like a Man, which had a theatrical engagement in Los Angeles last month prior to its digital release.

Egoyan is an Armenian-Canadian filmmaker and one of the most preeminent directors of the Toronto New Wave, emerging during the ’80s and making his career breakthrough with Exotica. Egoyan followed this with the critically acclaimed film The Sweet Hereafter, for which he received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Nazarian is a graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and recipient of the Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences for his screenplay Giants. His first film as writer-director, The Blue Hour, premiered at the San Sebastián International Film Festival and the Torino Film Festival, winning...

The unique throwback sci-fi film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow didn’t make the splash it was hoping for with audiences. In fact, we feel it’s an overlooked film here at JoBlo as Chris Bumbray tries to shine a light on the alien invasion film with a retrospective video. He recommends it highly by saying, “If you haven’t seen this movie, I urge you to check it out. It’s a fun, old-fashioned adventure with a great score by Edward Shearmur, who never entirely became the A-list composer he should have been. It has a bouncy pace and even an early example of post-mortem casting with Laurence Olivier playing the bad guy despite having died 13 years before this came out. Give it a shot!”

However, some movies can still find audiences late in life, and perhaps that can happen with the new physical release of Sky Captain.

The Last Rodeo shares the story of Joe Wainwright (Neal McDonough), an aging retired champion bull rider, and his daughter Sally (Sarah Jones) who face a crisis that can only be solved by Joe entering and winning a bull riding competition. Joe must connect with a bull fighter and his estranged best friend of many years, Charlie Williams (Mykelti Williamson) to enter the legends contest as the oldest contestant in history. Despite strained relations with his strong-willed daughter, he must confront his demons and consider the greatest sacrifice for his family.

The Last Rodeo stars McDonough, Mykelti Williamson, Christopher McDonald, Sarah Jones, and Pbr Champion Daylon Swearingen.

Directed by Jon Avnet and is written by Neal McDonough, Derek Presley (“Boon”), and Jon Avnet, The Last Rodeo opens in theaters May 23, 2025.

https://www.angel.com/giveaway/last-rodeo

The Oklahoma City advance screening is on Tuesday, April 15 at 7:00pm at Warren Moore 17 & IMAX.

Angel Studios has dated three films — Sketch, newly unveiled World War II resistance film Truth & Treason and Zero A.D. — and highlighted the rest of its 2025 slate, the most ambitious for the young faith-based distributor behind 2023 box office hit The Sound of Freedom, which grossed $184 million U.S. and $250 million globally.

Angel’s 11 releases over the past two years have grossed over $360 million.

“At CinemaCon 2025, we unveiled the most ambitious and cinematic slate in Angel Studios’ history. There are no greater partners than the dedicated exhibitors who bring these stories to life on the big screen. We are all in on theatrical — bullish on the big screen, unwavering in our commitment to the theatrical window, and firm believers in the power of the shared moviegoing experience,” said Brandon Purdie, EVP and Head of Theatrical Distribution.

Angel said today that the Toronto Film Festival-premiering Sketch, written and directed by Seth Worley in his feature film debut,...

Angel Studios presented its upcoming slate at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Wednesday led by new TIFF acquisition Sketch, animation The King Of Kings, and Neal McDonough drama The Last Rodeo.

Sketch opens on August 6 and stars Tony Hale, D’Arcy Carden, and Biana Belle in the story of a grieving single father whose daughter’s drawings take on a life of their own. Seth Worley’s film premiered in Toronto last September.

The King Of Kings opens on April 11 and tells of a boy who hears the story of Jesus from his father in vivid detail. The voice cast includes Kenneth Branaugh,...

After making its CinemaCon debut last year, Angel Studios returned to the Las Vegas trade show on Wednesday morning to showcase the films it is bringing to the big screen in 2025 with the support of its most loyal followers, the Angel Guild.

While its 2024 films didn’t reach the stunning heights of the studio’s claim to fame, “Sound of Freedom,” the studio is using the profits from that film to flex its muscles, attracting some big-name Hollywood stars and veteran filmmakers to its upcoming titles.

That includes its first animated feature, “The King of Kings,” a kid-friendly retelling of the Gospel narrated by Kenneth Branagh as Charles Dickens, who is retelling the story of Jesus to his child. The cast also features Oscar Isaac as Jesus and Pierce Brosnan as Pontius Pilate, with Uma Thurman, Mark Hamill, Ben Kingsley and Roman Griffin Davis rounding out the cast.

For its summer releases,...

The Directors Guild of America has appointed negotiations committee leaders for its upcoming 2026 talks with studios and streamers — and they are two familiar names.

Film and television director Jon Avnet will serve as chair of the union’s negotiations committee for its Basic Agreement and Freelance Live and Tape Television Agreement while veteran television helmer Karen Gaviola will serve as vice chair. The DGA’s national board voted to appoint the pair, which have each served on the negotiations committee for several previous rounds, at a meeting in February.

The DGA’s current deal with major entertainment firms expires on June 30, 2026.

“We are thrilled to have two of our most experienced feature and television Directors, Jon Avnet and Karen Gaviola, back to head the 2026 committee,” DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter said in a statement. “Jon and Karen were instrumental to helping steer the Guild in our most recent round, which...

Greg Hessinger, a former executive director of the Screen Actors Guild, has been named the third-ever chief executive of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

Hessinger will take responsibility for negotiating dozens of labor agreements on behalf of the major Hollywood studios. The contracts with the Directors Guild of America, the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA are up for bargaining next year.

In a statement, Hessinger said he was “deeply honored to step into this role at the AMPTP during such a pivotal time for our industry.”

Hessinger will answer to a coalition of legacy studios and streamers whose interests do not always align, as they seek to navigate the digital transition and wrestle with the labor implications of artificial intelligence.

The industry is still struggling to bounce back from the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which effectively shut down production for six months in 2023. Though he was...

The Directors Guild of America has tapped negotiating committee leadership for next year’s talks on a new three-year Basic Agreement and Freelance Live and Tape Television Agreement.

Jon Avnet will serve as Chair and Karen Gaviola will serve as Vice Chair of the committee, per the union. The current contracts expire on June 30, 2026. DGA National Executive Director Russell Hollander will serve as chief negotiator.

Avnet has served on the DGA negotiations committee for the past five bargaining cycles and was chair for the last two. He is currently a National Board member and on the Western Directors Council and is also Co-Chair of the DGA’s AI Committee, as well as a Trustee for the DGA Pension and Health Plans. His film and TV credits include Risky Business, Fried Green Tomatoes, Black Swan, Uprising, Justified and Sneaky Pete.

Gaviola has been on the negotiations committee for the past six bargaining cycles,...

Kevin Costner and Elijah Wood are two of Hollywood's most dynamic and celebrated performers, with the talented duo joining forces in 1994 to headline the poignant coming-of-age drama The War, a thought-provoking film that focuses on a Vietnam War veteran who returns to his home and family in Mississippi and struggles to overcome his crippling Ptsd and war trauma. Wood appears as Costner's headstrong son, who undergoes a major transformation himself as he tries to find meaning and purpose outside of his dreary household by building his own sanctuary in the form of a treehouse in the forest.

Though The War ultimately proved to be a box office dud and attracted underwhelming reviews from critics, moviegoers appreciated the wholesome chemistry between Costner and Wood, with many raving about the younger star's vulnerable performance and the endearing father/son bond the two shared. The little-known drama served as a major stepping stone...

Jacques Audiard’s musical thriller “Emilia Pérez,” Coralie Fargeat’s body horror “The Substance” and Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière’s epic adventure “The Count of Monte Cristo” have more in common than the fact that they’re directed by French filmmakers.

Despite being set in Mexico and Los Angeles, respectively, “Emilia Pérez” and “The Substance” both shot entirely in France, for the most part in studios in Paris.

France has been able to attract, host and retain a wide range of local and international productions, primarily thanks to its locations and crews, even if its tax incentives aren’t as competitive as in other popular filming destinations in Europe, such as London and Prague.

At a panel discussion at the American French Film Festival in Los Angeles, “The Count of Monte Cristo” producer Dimitri Rassam; Jay Roewe, SVP of production planning and incentives at HBO Max and Wbd; L.

Exclusive: Angel Studios, the crowdfunding studio behind titles like Sound of Freedom, is set to release The Last Rodeo, a new bull riding drama co-written, produced by and starring Neal McDonough (Band of Brothers), for Memorial Day weekend on May 23, 2025.

Directed by Jon Avnet (Fried Green Tomatoes) from his script written with McDonough and Derek Presley (Boon), The Last Rodeo‘s cast also includes Mykelti Williamson (Forrest Gump), Christopher McDonald (Hacks), Sarah Jones (For All Mankind), and Professional Bull Riding Champion Daylon Swearingen.

Neal and Ruvé McDonough

Pic shares the story of Joe Wainwright (McDonough), an aging retired champion bull rider, and his daughter Sally (Jones), who face a crisis that can only be solved by Joe entering and winning a bull riding competition. Joe must connect with a bull fighter and his estranged best friend of many years, Charlie Williams (Williamson), to enter the legends contest as the oldest contestant in history.

Exclusive: Veteran actor Mykelti Williamson has signed with More Medavoy Management for representation.

Known for his iconic role as Bubba in the Oscar-winning Forrest Gump, Williamson will next be seen in the Amazon feature Unstoppable, alongside Jharrel Jerome and Jennifer Lopez, produced by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. He most recently wrapped director Jon Avnet’s feature The Last Rodeo in the lead role of Charlie Williams – a former bull rider and bullfighter who steps back in the ring one more time. He’ll also appear in the Apple TV+ series Bonneville, opposite David Oyelowo.

His recent film credits include Mark Amin-directed Emperor, Butter with Mira Sorvino and The 24th, based on the historic Houston Riot of 1917, directed by Oscar winner Kevin Willimott.

Williamson also appeared in Blumhouse’s Don’t Let Go, directed by Jacob Estes and opposite David Oyelowo, Alfred Molina, and Brian Tyree Henry, as well as Saint Judy with Michelle Monaghan,...

Oscar-winning actress Kathy Bates has made no secret that portraying shrewd defense lawyer Matlock will be the final role of her decorated 55-year Hollywood career. The iconic Misery actor stars as Madeline "Matty" Matlock in the rebooted legal drama, which premiered on CBS on September 22, 2024. Although assuming the mantle left behind by Andy Griffith in the original Matlock is no easy feat, Bates stands to make TV history for the first time since 2015 if all goes to plan.

Should Bates win a probabilistic Emmy Award for her acting swan song, she will become the first woman to win a Best Leading Actress honor for a network production in 10 years. It would be an ideal way to bid a fond farewell to one of history's most diversely talented acting careers, reminding old and new fans that Bates can handle comedy and drama with the best of them. Here's how Kathy Bates...

Released Sept. 17, 2004, “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” was a romance-tinged action adventure inspired by the same 1930s serials that inspired George Lucas and Steven Spielberg when they made “Star Wars” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Earning $58 million against a budget that at the time was reported to be $70 million, the film was considered a box office failure for Kerry Conran, the writer-director making his first film — and to date, his only one.

“As much as this film was a great thing for me, it was also a painful thing for me,” Conran told Variety during a recent interview.

The Flint, Michigan native was not the first filmmaker to employ a “virtual backlot” to tell his stories — notwithstanding Lucas’ use of digital pre-visualization and blue screen technology to make the “Star Wars” prequels, Kazuaki Kiriya’s “Casshern” preceded him, and Robert Rodriguez’ “Sin City” followed shortly afterward. But...

The recently released film adaption of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel “It End with Us” was a lot of things and has certainly gotten a lot of people talking. It’s unfortunate, however, that the most important subjects at its center — that of domestic violence and emotional abuse — have not been top-of-mind for most conversations regarding the film, but rather alleged personal riffs between star Blake Lively and director/co-star Justin Baldoni. When domestic violence and abuse have been discussed in reference to the film, it has typically been with criticism over how the film and its rollout have avoided more thoughtfully grappling with these themes, rarely reaching for a narrative that goes any deeper than a casual beach read.

In speaking on adapting Hoover’s novel for the screen in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Baldoni acknowledged his interest in focusing on how Lively’s character, Lily Bloom, overcomes her circumstances,...

The 1983 classic Risky Business is getting the Criterion Collection treatment with an upcoming 4K Uhd and Blu-ray release – and the list of special features reveals that this release will feature both the theatrical cut of the film as well as writer/director Paul Brickman’s director’s cut, which has the original, darker ending. That ending was available as a bonus feature on a previous Blu-ray release of Risky Business, but these Criterion discs will be the first to actually have a full, official “director’s cut” of the film on them.

Risky Business has the following description: A sly piece of pop subversion, this irresistible satire of Reagan-era materialism features Tom Cruise in his star-is-born breakthrough as a Chicago suburban prepster whose college-bound life spirals out of control when his parents go out of town for the week and an enterprising call girl (Rebecca De Mornay) invites him...

Fried Green Tomatoes, an acclaimed 1991 film, has found renewed success on Netflix's top 10 list. The film, based on the Fannie Flagg novel, includes was nominated for 2 Oscars. Despite being over 30 years old, Fried Green Tomatoes has resonated with audiences and deserves a rewatch, as it continues to captivate viewers on Netflix.

Oscar-nominated drama Fried Green Tomatoes emerges on the Netflix top ten decades later. Directed by Jon Avnet, the 1991 film tells the story of a downtrodden housewife who befriends a woman at a nursing home and becomes transfixed by the stories that she regails about her life. Fried Green Tomatoes features a leading cast of Kathy Bates, Jessica Tandy, Mary Stuart Masterson, Mary-Louise Parker, Cicely Tyson, and Chris O’Donnell.

Years after its release, Fried Green Tomatoes finds success again on Netflix’s United States top 10. Fried Green Tomatoes came in no. 9 on the United States Netflix top 10 chart for...

Trey Curtis, the actor-musician whose credits include numerous roles in various productions of Hamilton, will take on the lead role in the Lin-Manuel Miranda Broadway musical this month.

The Houston native will take over for Miguel Cervantes, whose final performance is January 7. Curtis becomes the sixth actor to take on the role since the musical’s 2015 debut.

Curtis has been associated with the musical since 2019, appearing as various characters in Hamilton stagings in Puerto Rico, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto, Melbourne and Manila. He joined the Broadway cast last January as part of the ensemble and understudied most of the principal roles including Alexander Hamilton before going back out on tour.

Curtis’ early credits include Five Points, the Facebook series produced by Kerry Washington’s Simpson Street and Jon Avnet’s Indigenous Media. He performs and records his own music under the single name Trey, and he created his own Instagram series Revival Series.

Wolfgang Puck’s now-iconic Chinois on Main, which pioneered what came to be known as Asian fusion or Pacific Rim cuisine, has turned 40 this year. An entertainment industry haven since the day it opened in Santa Monica at the address of a former New Wave punk club, it’s since gone from radical to old guard. The restaurant’s starry clientele has ranged from Tom Selleck and Mike Ovitz to Gwyneth Paltrow and Frank Gehry (who is now designing Puck’s planned replacement of the oceanfront Gladstone’s restaurant along Pch).

Wolfgang Puck

Back in 1983, Angelenos first got a streetside sneak peek of Chinois in the months before its arrival, when the chef was buying a dozen ducks at a time from Chinatown wholesalers and blowing them up with a compressor at a gas station a few blocks down from Spago, the Sunset Strip restaurant that had earned him renegade...

In a memo to members on Wednesday, leaders of the Director’s Guild of America insisted that the studio deal it reached in June was a good one, despite growing criticism from members.

In the memo, first published by The Ankler, DGA leaders said:

“We are extremely proud of the contract we negotiated and you overwhelmingly ratified earlier this year. That’s why we’ve been discouraged to see a number of recent news articles and social media posts misrepresenting the extraordinary gains we made.

“The bottom line is that we negotiated an excellent agreement for our members which contains advancements impacting every category of member in our Guild, secures our economic and creative rights and prioritizes safety and diversity. Everything we won in our deal is focused on building for the future, adapting to the massive changes in our industry and making sure we can all continue to share...

The Directors Guild, which closed what it described as a “historic” deal with the AMPTP in June, responded Sunday to the WGA’s deal with the AMPTP.

“Congratulations to the WGA on reaching a tentative agreement tonight on behalf of their members,” according to the statement. “We have been proud to support the writers in their fight for a fair deal and look forward to reviewing the details of the agreement. Now it’s time for the AMPTP to get back to the table with SAG-AFTRA and address the needs of performers.”

A month after the WGA hit the picket line earlier this summer, the DGA reached a three-year contract with the studios that included wage increases and “a 76% increase in foreign residuals for the largest platforms.” At the time, the DGA said the new deal with the AMPTP “achieves major breakthroughs in addressing the international growth of the entertainment...

Exclusive: Haley Elizabeth Anderson has wrapped production on Jazzy Jumpers, a documentary she was tapped to direct for Indigenous Media, P&g Studios and A Seed & Wings Productions.

The film tells the story of the Brownsville, Brooklyn-based Double Dutch Team Jazzy Jumpers, headed up by Coach Toni Veal, watching as this group — which has, in recent years, attracted national media coverage — works to defend their World Championship title from their headquarters bordering a public housing complex.

This is the first project on which P&g and Indigenous have partnered, as well as the first feature to emerge from 60 Second Docs, the latter’s three-time Webby Award-winning label, which has to date put out around 1,000 short documentaries about the world’s most interesting and unusual characters. Anderson came to the film as an alum of P&g’s Queen Collective, a longstanding program developed in partnership with Queen Latifah, Flavor Unit Entertainment...

Lesli Linka Glatter has been re-elected president of the Directors Guild of America by acclamation of the delegates at the DGA’s Biennial National Convention in Los Angeles.

“I am thrilled to say we are as strong and united as ever before,” she said. “Together, we will continue our shared fight — along with SAG-AFTRA and the WGA — for an industry in which we are all fairly valued and celebrated for the work we do.”

“At this critical time for our industry, I am more committed than ever to our Guild’s mission of protecting the creative and economic rights of our members and working collaboratively both internally and externally on the issues affecting us all,” she said. “As we embark on the next chapter of our Guild, I’m elated to work alongside an incredibly talented, creative and diverse Board, all of whom generously volunteer their time to advocate for...

Justified: City Primeval is based on Elmore Leonard’s crime novel City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit and features the return of Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens. Once upon a time, Quentin Tarantino was rumoured to be attached to direct an episode or two of Justified: City Primeval, but how close did he actually get?

Quentin Tarantino is no stranger to the work of Elmore Leonard, as Jackie Brown was based on Leonard’s Rum Punch. Justified: City Primeval co-showrunner Michael Dinner knew that Tarantino had an interest in Leonard and told THR that they just decided to ask him if he wanted to do it.

“To be really honest, our intention was never to involve him in it,” Michael Dinner said. “And then, as we got the room together and we got the green light, we were saying, ‘Well, if he really did whisper sweet nothings in Tim’s ear,...

New directors contract will run from July 1 through June 30, 2026.

Update: A Hollywood directors strike has been averted after Directors Guild of America (DGA) membership ratified the new collective bargaining agreement with Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on Friday night (June 23) with an 87% vote in favour.

The deal, which concludes negotiations that ran from May 10 to June 3, approves a new contract that will last from July 1 of this year through June 30, 2026.

Meanwhile on Saturday SAG-AFTRA leadership posted a video saying ongoing talks with AMPTP were “extremely productive” and Guild president Fran Dreschler and national executive director and head...

New contract will run from July 1 through June 30, 2026.

A Hollywood directors strike has been averted after Directors Guild of America (DGA) membership ratified the new collective bargaining agreement with Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on Friday night (June 23) with an 87% vote in favour.

The deal, which concludes negotiations that ran from May 10 to June 3, approves a new contract that will last from July 1 of this year through June 30, 2026.

Meanwhile the writers are in the eighth week of their strike and Hollywood remains on tenterhooks as to the outcome of the SAG-AFTRA talks with AMPTP. SAG-AFTRA contracts expire...

The Directors Guild of America has formally ratified the new collective bargaining agreement that its leaders struck with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on June 4. The deal, which passed with the support of 87% of DGA members, officially ensures that the guild will not join Hollywood’s writers in striking this summer.

The three-year deal included a 76% increase in foreign streaming residuals for projects produced for the largest studios and streaming platforms. Other highlights included increased parental leave benefits and language stating that artificial intelligence is “not a person” and cannot replace directors on film and television projects.

“I’m proud to report that DGA members have joined together to ratify a new contract that will allow every Director, Assistant Director, Unit Production Manager, Associate Director and Stage Manager to share in the success of what we create,” guild president Lesli Linka Glatter said in a statement. “Our...

Members of the Directors Guild of America have overwhelmingly ratified a new film and television contract. The vote was 87% in favor to 13% opposed, with 6,728 members voting out of 16,321 eligible (41%).

Releasing the voting data is a break from DGA custom; it the past the guild would only say that contracts were ratified “overwhelmingly.”

“I’m proud to report that DGA members have joined together to ratify a new contract that will allow every Director, Assistant Director, Unit Production Manager, Associate Director and Stage Manager to share in the success of what we create,” said DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter. “Our new contract secures gains on wages, global streaming residuals, safety, diversity and creative rights that build for the future and impact every category of member in our Guild. The strength of our new contract is a testament to our Negotiations Committee Chair Jon Avnet, Negotiations Co-chairs Karen Gaviola and Todd Holland,...

The Directors Guild of America announced on Friday evening that its members have voted to approve its bargaining agreement with Hollywood studios.

Out of 6,728 votes received, 5,853 votes were in favor of ratification for a vote share of 87%. In a sign that more Hollywood creatives are getting involved with their unions, 41% of the 16,321 eligible DGA members voted, the highest turnout percentage ever for a DGA contract ratification vote and with an overall vote count higher than the 4,155 votes received by the Writers Guild during its 2020 ratification vote.

“I’m proud to report that DGA members have joined together to ratify a new contract that will allow every Director, Assistant Director, Unit Production Manager, Associate Director and Stage Manager to share in the success of what we create,” said DGA President Lesli Linka Glatter. “Our new contract secures gains on wages, global streaming residuals, safety, diversity and creative rights that build for...

Directors Guild of America members have voted to ratify the agreement that union negotiators struck with studios and streamers in early June.

Eighty-seven percent of the union voted in support of the deal in a referendum that ended on June 23, while 13 percent voted against it. Forty-one percent of the union’s 16,321 eligible voting members — a group that includes directors, assistant directors, unit production managers and stage managers, among others — turned out for the vote. The union framed this as a turnout level that “exceeded any prior DGA ratification vote.”

“I’m proud to report that DGA members have joined together to ratify a new contract that will allow every Director, Assistant Director, Unit Production Manager, Associate Director and Stage Manager to share in the success of what we create,” DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter said in a statement. “Our new contract secures gains on wages, global streaming residuals, safety, diversity...

Doctor Strange director Scott Derrickson has come out against the deal the Directors Guild of America (DGA) recently negotiated with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

In a statement shared on Twitter, Derrickson wrote, "I love the DGA — they have protected me during some of the most difficult situations of my career. However, I am voting No on the ratification of this contract because the time to go after transparency in domestic streaming data is now. It is ludicrous that we don’t get to know how many people are actually viewing our work — or how much revenue it generates. This information is consequential to our lives, yet the NegCom (per their own admission) did not even attempt to get us honest answers in this area — a decision that does DGA members a grave disservice."

Related: George R.R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, Nnedi Okorafor Join WGA Strike Together...

Part of a series of accounts from striking Hollywood writers at different levels in their careers. The diarists have been granted anonymity to encourage candor. You can read previous entries by ‘Well-Known Creator’ and others here.

In addition to being a member of the WGA, I am also a member of the DGA and SAG-AFTRA. (Yes, this means I get all the screeners during the holidays. And yes, it also means I am pretty much insufferable.) The announcement this week that the Fran Drescher-led SAG-AFTRA turned in a Strike Authorization Vote percentage that eclipsed even that of the WGA surprised me deeply, and not only because, well, it’s the kind of guild that is led by people like Fran Drescher. No knock on the Nanny, but the actors who historically want to run their union tend to not be the giants in the field, but rather people like Andrea from Beverly Hills,...

Voting is now underway for the ratification of the new DGA film and TV contract. Members were sent ballots tonight along with the memorandum of agreement, as well as an executive summary of the new deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The tentative agreement was approved last night by the DGA national board, which unanimously recommended that members ratify it. Voting must be completed by June 23.

“In this new agreement,” DGA President Lesli Linka Glatter told members, “we were able to win many significant advancements, including a number of important industry ‘firsts’ including: essential protections regarding AI, terms and conditions in non-dramatic SVOD programs as well as high-budget AVOD programs, Feature Director compensation for ‘soft prep,’ expanded paid post-production for Episodic Directors, a new foreign streaming residuals structure based on subscribers, and banning live ammunition on sets. We also obtained critical improvements in wages, streaming residuals,...

The Directors Guild of America’s national board of directors has unanimously approved the tentative agreement reached by the guild’s negotiating committee late Saturday, a deal that aims to set parameters around the use of artificial intelligence and boost streaming residual rates.

With the board’s approval, the contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will be sent to a ratification vote by DGA membership. The guild expects to send materials to its members this week.

“We set out to negotiate a contract that would build for the future. This is a significant deal with gains for every Director, Assistant Director, Unit Production Manager, Associate Director and Stage Manager,” said DGA president Lesli Linka Glatter. “Our industry is rapidly changing and expanding, and this agreement is what we need to adapt to those changes, break new ground and protect the DGA’s 19,000 directors and directorial team members today,...

The Directors Guild’s national board voted unanimously tonight to approve a tentative agreement for a new film and TV contract. The deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which was reached late Saturday night, goes this week to the guild’s membership for ratification with the board’s recommendation to vote “yes.”

Prominent members of the guild’s board include Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, 2nd Vice President Ron Howard and 5th Vice President Ava DuVernay.

The deal, which came on the 33rd day of the Writers Guild’s strike – and just four days before tomorrow’s start of SAG-AFTRA’s contract talks – includes significant pay hikes, a 76% increase in foreign residuals for the largest streaming platforms, and assurances that artificial intelligence cannot replace directors or their teams.

“We set out to negotiate a contract that would build for the future. This is a significant deal with gains for every director,...

The votes are in and it’s a landslide. A massive 97.91 percent of almost half of the members voted yes in the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) referendum to authorize a strike if the union’s upcoming contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) fails to reach its goals. The current contract expires on June 30.

The union’s president Fran Drescher said that “the strike authorization votes have been tabulated and the membership joined their elected leadership and negotiating committee in favor of strength and solidarity.” She continued, “Together we lock elbows and in unity we build a new contract that honors our contributions in this remarkable industry, reflects the new digital and streaming business model and brings All our concerns for protections and benefits into the now! Bravo SAG-AFTRA, we are in it to win it.”

This maneuver is not happening in a vacuum.

Amid the ongoing Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike, the Directors Guild of America (DGA) struck a tentative deal with studios and streamers for a new labor contract.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the DGA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) reached an agreement for a three-year labor contract, an agreement that includes improved wages and benefits, residuals from streaming, and protections against AI, among other terms. However, the agreement is tentative as a ratification vote has not yet been scheduled. The agreement is to be submitted to the national board of the DGA in a special meeting scheduled for Tuesday, June 6. Negotiations began on May 10.

Related: Tom Holland Confirms Spider-Man 4 Meetings Were Happening Before WGA Strike

"We have concluded a truly historic deal," said Jon Avnet, chair of the DGA’s negotiations committee. "It provides significant improvements for every director, assistant director, unit production manager,...

Guild cites “major breakthroughs” on wages/benefits, global streaming, AI.

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) said it has reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year collective bargaining agreement with Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

The Guild said in a statement on Saturday night the deal secured “major breakthroughs” in addressing the international growth of the entertainment industry and “significant gains” across key economic and creative rights while reaffirming the critical role of DGA directors and their teams.

The tentative agreement will be submitted to the Guild’s national board for approval at a special board meeting scheduled for Tuesday,...

In what has to be seen as a blow to solidarity with the writers who’ve been striking since the start of May 2023, the Directors Guild of America has reached a tentative agreement with the AMPTP that will avert a strike of its own.

The DGA’s new three-year collective bargaining agreement with the studios appears to satisfy the guild’s demands for appropriate compensation related to streaming residuals and the international distribution of their work, as well as offer new protections for creative rights (including against AI) and safety issues.

The deal still needs to be presented to the DGA’s National Board, but includes these highlights:

A 76 percent increase on international residuals for work created for the largest platforms, so that a one-hour episode will now pay out roughly $90,000 in residuals over the first three years. A new parental leave benefit. Terms and conditions set for directors (as...

The Directors Guild of America has voted on a tentative deal that would avoid taking strike action.

Variety reports that the DGA arrived at a tentative three-year labour deal with the Hollywood studios and streamers after what the outlet describes as “a bruising skirmish.”

In a statement, the DGA’s negotiating committee lauded the deal reached with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers as “a historic new three-year collective bargaining agreement.” The deal will be put to a vote on Tuesday.

Read More: Writers Strike Looks To Be A Long Fight, As Hollywood Braces

“We have concluded a truly historic deal,” said Jon Avnet, chair of the DGA’s negotiations committee. “It provides significant improvements for every director, assistant director, unit production manager, associate director and stage manager in our guild. In these negotiations we made advances on wages, streaming residuals, safety, creative rights and diversity, as well...

The Directors Guild of America said Saturday night that it had reached a tentative three-year labor deal with the Hollywood studios and streamers after a bruising skirmish.

The DGA negotiating committee described the deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers as “a historic new three-year collective bargaining agreement.” It will put the deal to its board on Tuesday.

A separate strike by Writers Guild of America members over the terms of their relationship with studios and streamers remains ongoing.

“We have concluded a truly historic deal,” said Jon Avnet, chair of the DGA’s negotiations committee. “It provides significant improvements for every director, assistant director, unit production manager, associate director and stage manager in our guild. In these negotiations we made advances on wages, streaming residuals, safety, creative rights and diversity, as well as securing essential protections for our members on new key issues like artificial intelligence...

The Directors Guild and the studios have reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract. The deal includes wage increases and “a 76% increase in foreign residuals for the largest platforms,” says the DGA.

The pact, which also addresses AI, comes on the 33rd day of the Writers Guild strike, and just four days before SAG-AFTRA sits down at the bargaining table with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers – and two days before Monday’s 5 p.m. deadline for SAG-AFTRA members to vote for or against strike authorization. Like the directors, the actors’ guild current contract with the studios expires on June 30.

In a late night statement, the DGA said the new deal with the AMPTP “achieves major breakthroughs in addressing the international growth of the entertainment industry and makes significant gains across key economic and creative rights while reaffirming the critical role of DGA directors and their teams.

After less than a month of negotiations, the Directors Guild and Hollywood’s top studios and streamers have struck a tentative deal on a new three-year labor contract.

The agreement between the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) includes gains in wages and benefits, streaming residuals, AI protections and more. (Full details are below.) Union leaders will need to lay out what they perceive to be the gains and compromises in the contract to members in the coming days before members ultimately participate in a ratification vote. There is no date yet for the ratification vote; the tentative agreement will be submitted to the DGA’s national board at a special meeting set for Tuesday.

The new deal arrives after the DGA and AMPTP spent all day Saturday at the negotiating table.

“We have concluded a truly historic deal,” said Jon Avnet, chair of the DGA’s negotiations committee.

Exclusive: With the clock ticking and writers out on the picket lines all over town, the Directors Guild of America and the studios are far from even the framework of a deal.

Two weeks into their negotiations, the Lesli Linka Glatter-led union and the Alliance of Motion Picture Producers and Television Producers haven’t “agreed on anything significant,” well-positioned sources say. Not entirely surprising at this juncture in the media-blacked-out talks, the reality of the situation extinguishes the rumor flying around town today that an agreement is close.

“There is a process, it takes time,” a high ranking DGA member told Deadline. “Everyone in the rooms is following [the process] in full knowledge of what’s happening on the picket lines.” Another DGA member added of the pickets and protests: “There’s a lot of noise outside,...

Negotiators for the Directors Guild of America on Tuesday gave a video preview of their upcoming talks with the studios, saying they are “fighting to receive our fair share of the new, global future.”

The DGA begins its round of bargaining on Wednesday with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. The guild is focused on rewriting the streaming residual formula to account for the growth in foreign subscribers.

“The explosive popularity of streaming around the world has transformed how, and where, our work is viewed, and our contracts must adapt to changing production and distribution,” said Karen Gaviola, negotiations co-chair.

The DGA talks will begin on the ninth day of the Writers Guild of America strike. The negotiations will take place in the same AMPTP conference room in Sherman Oaks where WGA negotiators spent six weeks attempting to reach an agreement, before those talks collapsed on May 1.

So...

The Directors Guild of America has released a new video outlining its bargaining position on the eve its contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which get under way Wednesday. The video features Jon Avnet, chair of the DGA’s negotiating committee, and co-chairs Karen Gaviola and Todd Holland.

“Now that formal negotiations are beginning, you will hear from us less frequently,” they said in an accompanying message to the guild’s members (watch it here). “As you know, we don’t negotiate in the press. Contract negotiations can bring speculation and rumors that appear online or in the media.”

They also laid out their priorities “for a strong contract that treats us fairly and allows us to share in the success of an evolving entertainment industry,” which include:

Securing wage increases that address inflation. Maintaining the strength and sustainability of our world-class pension and health care plans.

On the eve of the start of contract negotiations, top dealmakers for the Directors Guild of America are telling members that their 2023 talks with studios and streamers “are about more than our next contract.”

“We know there will be conflict. The battle will test us. But we won’t rest until we win a strong contract today that builds a bridge to continued DGA prosperity into the future,” negotiations committee co-chair Todd Holland said on Tuesday in a video message to the union’s 19,000 members, a group that includes directors, assistant directors, unit production managers and stage managers.

Featuring Holland alongside negotiations committee chair Jon Avnet and co-chair Karen Gaviola, the video overviews top negotiations priorities this cycle and sets a serious tone for the upcoming talks. “Together, we are an unstoppable union. We’ve negotiated world-class contracts because we deserve them,” Avent said. Added Gaviola, “This year, our negotiations...

If Hollywood’s labor drama were a script, this would be the start of Act Two.

On Wednesday, as writers walk picket lines outside the major studios, the Directors Guild of America will sit down for its negotiations on a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

A deal — if they are able to reach one — could help resolve the writers strike. That’s what happened 15 years ago, when the Writers Guild of America was on strike and the directors went in for their contract negotiations. Leveraging the pressure of an industry-wide work stoppage that was in its third month, the DGA secured milestone agreements for unfettered jurisdiction over the internet and a residual formula for what was then quaintly known as “new media” exploitation of movies and TV shows.

The WGA then had the same terms baked into its 2008 contract through “pattern bargaining,” which ensures...