Entertainment
Directors Guild Begins Negotiations With Studios for New Contract
With the Writers Guild of America ratifying its four-year labor contract and SAG-AFTRA set to release its tentative agreement this week, the 2026 Hollywood labor contract cycle reaches its final stage this week with the Directors Guild of America set to begin talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.
While the DGA went first in negotiations in 2014, 2017 and 2020, SAG-AFTRA went first in this contract cycle in part to have more time to discuss issues such as artificial intelligence protections and the guild’s recently launched streaming compensation fund for actors who work on films and shows that are particularly successful on newer platforms.
The WGA, meanwhile, reached a deal with the AMPTP that saw the studios contribute a record estimated $321 million to the guild’s struggling health plan in exchange for a four-year contract length instead of the usual three, an extension that is rare but not unheard of in the history of Hollywood labor as similar contract lengths were agreed to between studios and unions in the 1960s.
A deal with the DGA would represent a smooth wrap-up this contract cycle, which has served as a mirror to the last chaotic, strike-filled negotiation cycle. The WGA’s negotiations in particular were completed quicker than expected, bringing some stability to Hollywood at least in the immediate term. As with the other unions, the key issues for DGA revolve around AI and health care costs.
The DGA’s health plan is in a relatively more stable financial position than the WGA’s was. But insiders with knowledge of the upcoming talks note that like all union health plans in the United States, it is not immune to the effects of spiraling healthcare costs in the country, as the union’s most recent tax returns show that the plan lost $38 million in 2024.
A major infusion of employer contributions will be needed to ensure that the DGA plan does not get pushed to the verge of insolvency the way the WGA’s did. Like WGA and SAG-AFTRA, insiders at the DGA are staying mum on how open they are to making a deal for a four-year contract. But it wouldn’t be surprising if the AMPTP takes a similar approach to the WGA talks and offers a significant increase to studio health plan contributions in exchange for an extra year on the contract, even if the numbers and details change.
Also like the WGA, any health plan agreement will also mean increased member costs. The days of no premiums for individual members may soon be at an end, just as WGA health plan members will have to start paying $75 monthly premiums in July 2027. An increase to the $1,000 out-of-pocket limit may also be in the cards for DGA members.
Another key topic for DGA talks will be AI protections, namely when it comes to renewing the subletter that the guild secured in 2023. While the protections that WGA and SAG-AFTRA secured after months on strike got the headlines, the DGA was the first Hollywood union to secure language explicitly saying that the work done by their members cannot be delegated by a studio to generative AI.
While the sideletter’s renewal will empower established directors who are staunchly against using AI in their productions, the past three years have shown that such union protections have not stopped studios from exploring ways to use AI to streamline their production processes in ways that can cut out the work of human crew members, nor have they stopped film schools from integrating AI into their curriculums as they train the next generation of filmmakers.
The USC School of Cinematic Arts, for example, announced the construction of a new virtual production space that will allow students to utilize AI to generate backgrounds on LED panel walls. That space is set to open in Fall 2027.
But while the DGA has little ability to halt the rise of AI, it is looking to halt the decline of jobs for its members. The guild’s associate national executive director Rebecca Rhine was a major voice advocating for the expansion of California’s production tax incentive last year, and has been pushing alongside DGA President Christopher Nolan and national executive director Russell Hollander for a federal U.S. tax incentive.
While much of the production job battle is legislative, DGA insiders told TheWrap they are exploring ways that it can increase employment through its labor contract, though it is keeping details confidential for now. We will see if and when a deal is reached whether new language securing more employment for assistant directors and unit production managers repped by the DGA is included in the agreement.
In addition to Nolan and Hollander, DGA’s negotiating committee is led by co-chairs Jon Avnet and Karen Gaviola. AMPTP president Greg Hessinger will lead talks on the studios’ side.
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movies
Jennifer Lawrence Boards Zach Cregger’s New Line Pic ‘The Flood’
What has been buzzed about is becoming a reality: Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence is starring in Zach Cregger‘s next movie, The Flood at Warner Bros’ New Line Cinema. The pic has a release date of August. 11, 2028.
The sci-fi thriller project brings the Weapons filmmaker back to New Line on which he’ll direct, produce and write based on his original idea. The news comes just as Cregger’s Resident Evil for Sony/Constantin has just crossed the two century mark at the global box office.
Said Cregger, “Mike, Pam and the whole Warner Bros./New Line team were an absolute dream to collaborate with on Weapons, and I couldn’t be happier to dive in with them again. Jennifer is one of a kind, and I’m beyond excited to see her in this role.”
“Jennifer Lawrence is one of the most gifted and compelling actors working today, and we are thrilled to have her at the center of Zach’s bold and wholly original vision for The Flood. Following our extraordinary experience together on Weapons, we could not be more excited to reunite with Zach and the team at Vertigo, as well as Amblin to bring this ambitious film to audiences around the world,” said Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy.
Amblin Entertainment is producing alongside Roy Lee and Miri Yoon of Vertigo Entertainment. Plot details are being kept under wraps.
Weapons led the domestic box office for four consecutive weeks and earned $270 million worldwide last year, ranking among 2025’s highest-grossing horror films. Amy Madigan won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Aunt Gladys, a character whose story will continue in the upcoming film Gladys.
Lawrence received the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook and has also starred in American Hustle, Joy, Don’t Look Up, and The Hunger Games franchise. Through her production company, Excellent Cadaver, she has produced acclaimed films including Causeway, No Hard Feelings, and Die My Love, as well as the documentaries Zurawski v Texas and the Peabody Award-winning Bread and Roses. Most recently, Lawrence earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in Die My Love. Up next, Excellent Cadaver will produce the highly anticipated What Happens at Night, starring Lawrence alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and directed by Martin Scorsese.
Lawrence is represented by LBI Entertainment and Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller & Gellman.
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Entertainment
Sarah Paulson Blasts Critics Calling Out Aileen Wuornos Performance In ‘Monster’
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movies
Trump Looks To Rebrand AI As “Super Intelligence”
Amid a backlash against data centers, worries of massive job loss and doomsday warnings from the industry itself, Donald Trump stood with top tech CEOs and pitched a rebrand.
“We’ve changed the name officially to SI,” Trump told reporters gathered just outside the West Wing, referring to the switch from “artificial intelligence” to “super intelligence.”
The president planned to sign an executive order as such on Tuesday afternoon, but it remains to be seen whether it actually will take hold when AI has become so ubiquitous.
Standing with Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, among others, Trump also said that the White House meeting between the top executives produced a “self-policing” agreement and one that would be “morally binding.”
Three years ago, when Joe Biden was president, many of the same CEOs gathered on Capitol Hill for a forum on AI led by then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. But that meeting, along with others he held to address concerns over the technology, produced no new regulation.
Trump has continued to dismiss calls for greater regulation, warning of a race with China to dominate the technology. And he’s also expressed continued support for data centers even amid a backlash in local communities that has drawn opposition from lawmakers in both parties.
“The data centers are incredible,” Trump said. “And by the way I am very good at real estate. Some of those buildings are absolutely beautiful. They are big strong powerful buildings but they are beautiful.”
Zuckerberg said, “I think what we can all agree on is that the American public and our customers want to know that what we are building is working the way we intended. We drafted a set of principles and commitments around building robust internal controls and detecting any issues with the technology, coupled with multiple layers of auditing and controls, starting with internal risk review, external auditors and evaluators, and agreeing that we are going to have all of our board of directors independently review the reports that come from the auditors.”
He added, “The idea isn’t that this is the only thing we will ever do, it is that this is a start and an accord that the whole industry can come to.”
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