By Becky Hurwitz
The Directors Guild of America is an organization that "protects
directorial teams' legal and artistic rights, contend for their creative
freedom, and strengthen their ability to develop meaningful and credible
careers." It is an organization that any person credited as a
Unit Production Manager, a First Assistant Director, or a Second Assistant
Director on a film with a company that has agreed to the DGA collective
bargaining agreement. The DGA has more than 12,000 members and serves
as a union of directors.
The DGA website seems relatively new- many links lead to "coming
soon" messages, but even incomplete, the site is comprehensive.
The site introduction reads, "As filmmakers find a wider and
more diverse audience for their work, so too must the DGA endeavor
to reach that audience and inform them about the Guild, its purpose,
and the work of its members. It is our hope that our presence on the
Internet will contribute toward that goal and help satisfy the world's
increasing desire for information."
It's just as important for organizations like the DGA to be online
as it is for a company with a product to sell. In both cases, the
owners of the website want to reach a potential market and to provide
information that might increase their own viability.
The DGA website includes information about the organization and related
information. A director or aspiring director could look online and
easily find information about how to join the DGA, what benefits they
should expect. Beyond this basic information, there is related content
about the history of the DGA, current and past legislation, members
and committees. These are sections probably most useful for directors
or members of the trade. The Ezine and the online version of the DGA
magazine offer articles about some directors' recent projects or about
other related film industry news, information that might be of interest
to a general movie fan.
The DGA website is well made and has a lot of information that would
be useful for filmmakers. The site was made for filmmakers, and functions
well for this targeted group. Visit if you are interested in the rights
of a filmmaker or in dedicated content about filmmaking.