The Directors Guild ratified its new contract in June, and the guild's president is Christopher Nolan, a director famous for shooting on film. When he said the priorities were to "secure our Health Plan, protect jobs, and ensure that our members remain secure as AI continues to impact our industry," people listened.
Press releases summarize. Contracts decide. The DGA posted the signed Memorandum of Agreement, the document that lists every change to the old contract, with additions underlined and deletions struck through. It runs four years, from July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2030. Two AI changes are worth reading slowly.
Takeaway #1: A director is a person, and AI footage is footage
FROM THE CONTRACT
"The Employers agree that the duties customarily assigned to DGA-represented employees ... must be assigned to a person covered by the Basic Agreement or FLTTA, as applicable, and the Employers acknowledge that GAI does not constitute a person."
"For purposes of the Director's creative rights set forth in Article 7, references to the term 'footage' includes 'footage' made with Generative Artificial Intelligence ('GAI') as defined in Sideletter No. 33 to this Basic Agreement."
What it means for you. The first sentence carries over from the 2023 deal. The job goes to a human DGA member, and a model doesn't count as one. The second is new, and it's the sneaky-important one. A director's contract rights, like the cut, retakes and consultation, are written around "footage." Now AI-made footage is footage. A shot generated in post sits in the same creative-rights box as a shot from the camera.
The new text also adds a line saying the technology "does not expand or contract the Director's existing creative rights." And when a movie is edited for another release, the employer must tell the director, on request, "whether the editing is to be done using Generative Artificial Intelligence ... if known at the time."
Note what it doesn't say. Studios aren't banned from using AI. The sideletter keeps the employer's right "to reject the use of GAI that could adversely affect the copyrightability or exploitation of the work." AI is allowed. AI replacing the director is not.
Your move. Directors, ask on day one what AI the production will require you to use. A new 2026 line says the employer must tell you "upon request," to the extent it knows.
Takeaway #2: Training money became a notice
FROM THE CONTRACT
"The Employer shall give written notice to the DGA if the Employer grants a license to a non-affiliated third party, which provides for compensation to be paid to the Employer, for the use of a motion picture directed by a Director covered under the Agreement to train a public-facing commercially available GAI system for the purpose of creating new motion picture content (a 'GAI License'). At the request of the DGA, the Employer shall meet to discuss such GAI License, including remuneration, if any, subject to appropriate confidentiality agreements."
What it means for you. Read the strikethrough, too. The 2023 sideletter promised regular meetings "to discuss appropriate remuneration, if any," for directed material used to train AI. That promise is struck. In its place is this narrower, more concrete rule. If a studio gets paid to license a DGA-directed film to an outside company training a public, commercial AI system to make new film content, the guild gets written notice and can ask to meet.
The devil is in the details, and there are a lot of them here. It covers a license to a "non-affiliated third party," so a studio's in-house model isn't covered. It covers a license "which provides for compensation to be paid to the Employer," so a free license isn't covered. And "remuneration, if any" is a topic for a meeting, not a payment.
Still, notice matters. You can't negotiate over a deal you never hear about.
Your move. If you're a director with a back catalog, ask the guild how GAI License notices will be shared with members.
Sample wording (our illustration): "Producer will notify Director within 30 days of any license of the Picture to a third party for AI training."
And always remember, don't sign it till you read it, my friends.
General information, not legal advice. Reading this doesn't create an attorney-client relationship. Directors should talk to the DGA and their own counsel about their contracts.
