The Directors Guild reached a tentative agreement Thursday afternoon with the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers. In a perfect world, the directors (whose contract isn’t up until June but who began negotiations early) will have come up with a deal that could serve as a template for a settlement to the writers strike.

Here is the release sent out by the directors. The writers are reported to be frantically analyzing the details:

DGA and AMPTP Reach Tentative Agreement On Terms of New Contract

       DGA Gains Solid Wage Increases With No Rollbacks Plus
   Precedent-Setting Jurisdiction Over New-Media and a Doubling
                       of EST Residuals Rate

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 17, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) — The Directors Guild of
America (DGA) announced today that it has concluded a tentative
agreement on the terms of a new 3-year collective bargaining agreement
with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

Highlights of the new agreement include:
 * Increases both wages and residual bases for each year of the
   contract.

 * Establishes DGA jurisdiction over programs produced for
   distribution on the Internet.

 * Establishes new residuals formula for paid Internet downloads
   (electronic sell-through) that essentially doubles the rate
   currently paid by employers.

 * Establishes residual rates for ad-supported streaming and use of
   clips on the Internet.

“Two words describe this agreement — groundbreaking and substantial,”
said Gil Cates, chair of the DGA’s Negotiations Committee, in
announcing the terms of the new agreement. “The gains in this contract
for directors and their teams are extraordinary — and there are no
rollbacks of any kind.”

Formal negotiations between the DGA’s 50-member Negotiations Committee
and the AMPTP began Saturday, January 12, and were concluded today.
Talks were led by Cates and DGA National Executive Director Jay D.
Roth. They were preceded by months of informal discussions and nearly
two years of preparation and research by Guild staff and consultants.

“This was a very difficult negotiation that required real give and take
on both sides,” said DGA president Michael Apted. “Nonetheless, we
managed to produce an agreement that enshrines the two fundamental
principles we regard as absolutely crucial to any employment and
compensation agreement in this digital age: First, jurisdiction is
essential. Without secure jurisdiction over new-media production –
both derivative and original — compensation formulas are meaningless.
Second, the Internet is not free. We must receive fair compensation for
the use and reuse of our work on the Internet, whether it was
originally created for other media platforms or expressly for online
distribution.”

The agreement includes the following gains in New Media:
 * Jurisdiction: The new agreement ensures that programming produced
   for the Internet (both original and derivative) will be directed by
   DGA members and their teams.  The only exceptions are low-budget
   original shows on which production costs are less than $15,000 per
   minute, $300,000 per program, or $500,000 per series — whichever
   is lowest.

 * Electronic Sell-Through: EST is the paid download of features and
   TV programming. The agreement more than doubles the EST residual
   for television and increases the feature film residual by 80% over
   the rate currently paid by the employers.

   Specifically, the EST residual rates will be .70% for television
   downloads and .65% for film downloads, above a certain number of
   units downloaded.  Below that, residuals will be based on formula
   employers currently pay.

   Payments for EST will be based on distributor’s gross, which is the
   amount received by the entity responsible for distributing the film
   or television program on the Internet.  Having distributor’s gross
   as the residuals basis was a key point in our negotiations.

   The companies are now contractually obligated to give us unfettered
   access to their deals and data.  This access is new and
   unprecedented and creates a transparency that has never existed
   before.  Additionally, if the exhibitor or retailer is part of the
   producer’s corporate family, we have improved provisions for
   challenging any suspect transactions.

 * Ad-Supported Streaming: After an initial 17-day window for free
   promotional streaming of Internet programs, companies must pay 3%
   of the residual base (approximately $600 for network prime time
   1-hour drama) for 26 weeks of streaming. They can continue to
   stream for an additional 26-week period by paying an additional 3%
   — or a total of $1,200 for one year’s worth of streaming. (During
   a program’s first season, the 17-day window is expanded to 24 days
   to help build audience.)

 * Sunset Provision: Allows both sides to revisit new media when
   agreement expires.

“Our fundamental goal in these negotiations was to protect our
interests in the present while laying the groundwork for a future whose
outlines are not yet clear,” said Cates. “We knew that gaining
jurisdiction over new-media production and winning fair compensation
for the reuse of our work on the Internet were the key issues for
setting a framework for the future, but we also had to secure real
gains for our members in today’s world.”

The new tentative agreement includes the following:
 * Annual wage increases of 3% for primetime dramatic shows and
   daytime serials and 3.5% for all other covered programming.

 * Outsized increase in director’s compensation on high-budget basic
   cable for series in the second and subsequent seasons.

 * Annual residual increases of 3% for primetime shows and 3.5% for
   all other covered programming.

 * Specific advances that pertain to members of the director’s team.