Directors Guild of America

DGA Awards

Main article: Directors Guild of America Awards

The DGA hosts the annual DGA Awards, an important precursor to the Academy Awards. In its 69-year history, the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has been a near perfect barometer for both the Best Director, and in some cases, the Best Picture Academy Award. Only seven times has the DGA Award winner not won the corresponding Best Director Academy Award. Honorees are awarded with a statue manufactured by Society Awards.

Student Spotlight Awards

The inaugural DGA Student Film Awards were held in 1995. the DGA Student Spotlight Awards for Underrepresented Directors are awarded to a number of student filmmakers in an underrepresented group in the industry, such as African American, Asian American, Latino, women, and documentary film makers. Each winner receives a $2,500 cash prize.

Credits

The rule that a film can only have one single director was adopted to preserve the continuity of a director's vision and to avoid producers and actors lobbying for a director's credit, or studios hiring multiple directors for a single film or television episode.

The rule is waived only for directorial teams recognized by the DGA who have a history of working together and sharing a common vision. Examples include The Wachowskis, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Hughes brothers, Russo brothers, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and the Coen brothers. The Coens for years divided credit, with Ethan taking producing credit, Joel taking directing credit, and both of them sharing the writing credit (even though the two of them shared all three duties between themselves) until The Ladykillers in 2004.

An example of the DGA refusing to recognize a directorial team was Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller for Sin City; they were rejected because they had never worked together before; Rodriguez quit the DGA so that Miller would share director's credit.

For the film Bohemian Rhapsody, director Bryan Singer was fired due to frequent absences and clashing on the set, with Dexter Fletcher replacing him with two weeks left of filming. Singer still received director credit and Fletcher received executive producer credit.

In the past, the DGA has also engaged in disputes with the Writers Guild of America (WGA) over possessory credits, first used in the 1915 film The Birth of a Nation. The WGA tried to limit possessory credits to writers, but has always been successfully opposed by the DGA, leaving directors free to try to negotiate such credits if they wish.

Non-member directors

Not all Hollywood directors are DGA members. Notable exceptions include George Lucas and Robert Rodriguez. Those who are not members of the guild are unable to direct for the larger movie studios, which are signatories to the guild's agreements that all directors must be guild members.

Leadership

The following are the past Presidents of the Screen Directors Guild and the DGA:

DGA Director's Finder Series

The Director's Finder Series (or Director's Finder Screening Series), inaugurated in December 1998, provides for the screening of independent films with no U.S. distributor, and no previous TV or other distribution. Selected by a lottery, the films are screened in DGA theatres in Los Angeles and New York City to an audience of DGA members and invited potential distributors. Many films have been picked up by distributors via the series that may not otherwise have been spotted. The series was initiated by the DGA's Independent Directors' Committee, chaired by Steven Soderbergh, initially for U.S. films only, but later expanded to include Australian, Irish, British and New Zealand directors, via the International Association of English-Speaking Directors Organisation (IAESDO). By 2007, the series had screened more than 75 films. and the Australian Directors' Guild (ADG), which nominate one film to participate.

Australian entries, selected for the Finders Series Award by the ADG from a shortlist of four, Tony Krawitz's documentary The Tall Man (2012), and in 2014 Catriona McKenzie's Satellite Boy was selected for the series.

Irish entries include Terry McMahon's Patrick's Day (2014) and Ross Whitaker's Katie (2018).

References

References

1. "Directors Guild of America".
2. Robb, David. (September 18, 2021). "Lesli Linka Glatter Elected DGA President; Second Woman To Hold Post". [[Deadline Hollywood]].
3. Dawes, Amy. (2011). "A More Perfect Union". DGA Quarterly.
4. King, Susan. (January 9, 2012). "Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese receive nominations for DGA Award".
5. Feinberg, Scott. (January 29, 2012). "With DGA Win, 'The Artist' and Its Artist Look Virtually Unstoppable at Oscars (Analysis)".
6. "DGA Student Spotlight Awards".
7. ''Directors Guild of America Magazine'', [http://www.dga.org/news/v28_6/news_pc-timeline.php3 Possessory Credit Timeline] {{webarchive. link. (August 8, 2008 , 28(6), February 2004)
8. [[Quentin Tarantino]] directed six feature films before becoming a DGA member, in 2012.[http://www.dga.org/News/DGAMonthly.aspx "Membership Report - West Coast Additions"] {{Webarchive. link. (March 28, 2012 ''DGA Monthly Magazine'', January 2012)
9. Engber, Daniel. (April 8, 2005). "Why Not Quit the Directors Guild? What Robert Rodriguez can and can't do". [[Slate (magazine).
10. Matthew, Jacobs. (June 26, 2013). "Directors Guild Of America Elects Paris Barclay First Black, Openly Gay President". Huffington Post.
11. (June 24, 2017). "Thomas Schlamme Elected Directors Guild President – Complete Election Results". Deadline.
12. (September 18, 2021). "Lesli Linka Glatter Elected President of Directors Guild of America". [[Variety (magazine).
13. (21 September 2025). "Christopher Nolan Elected President of Directors Guild of America".
14. (June 7, 2021). "DGA Independent Filmmakers Brochure".
15. (2018). "SDGI Announces KATIE as Winner for Finders Series 2018".
16. (October 11, 2007). "Peter Garrett To Attend Directors Guild Awards".
17. (October 17, 2012). "Film-maker Tony Krawitz heads to US as part of Directors'{{sic".
18. (December 31, 2019). "Catriona McKenzie". New South Wales Government.
19. Ramachandran, Naman. (August 26, 2014). "Patrick's Day wins Screen Directors Guild Finders Series Award".
20. (October 18, 2018). "Ross Whitaker's Katie named Screen Directors Guild Finders Series Award-winner for 2018".