Christopher Nolan has been elected president of the Directors Guild of America, taking over the reins as the union prepares for upcoming negotiations with the major studios.
Nolan, an Oscar winner and one of the most successful helmers of his generation, succeeds Lesli Linka Glatter, who served two terms at the helm and was first elected in 2021. He has been active in the DGA for some time and at present is a member of its national board of directors.
“To be elected President of the Directors Guild of America is one of the greatest honors of my career,” Nolan said. “Our industry is experiencing tremendous change, and I thank the Guild’s membership for entrusting me with this responsibility. I also want to thank President Glatter for her leadership over the past four years. I look forward to collaborating with her and the newly elected Board to achieve important creative and economic protections for our members.”
Over the last four years, the DGA has focused its lobbying efforts in Sacramento on set safety issues. The union pushed for a pilot program that requires a safety supervisor on sets of productions supported by the California film and TV tax incentive.
The union was also heavily involved in the lobbying effort this year to expand the California tax credit and include a broader range of productions.
In negotiations, the union has focused on expanding foreign streaming residuals. If tradition holds, the DGA will have initial conversations with the Alliance for Motion Picture and Television Producers sometime by early next year. During the last contract cycle in 2023, the DGA was the only one of the Big Three unions to reach a new contract without a work stoppage. The DGA’s most recent contract runs through June 30, 2026.
Nolan’s election marks a rare example of an A-list player taking the helm of the union at the peak of their professional power. Nolan earned two Oscars for his stewardship of 2023’s “Oppenheimer.” He’s proven himself to be one of filmdom’s most versatile and most bankable helmers with his track record of handling everything from genre pics (“Batman Begins,” “The Dark Knight”) to heady dramas (“Inception,” “Memento,” “Tenet”) to historical dramas (“Dunkirk,” “Oppenheimer”).
Nolan’s next big-screen big swing is “The Odyssey,” an epic adventure story set for release in July from Universal Pictures, the studio that scored Oscars and global box office with Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.”
Nolan was elected Saturday evening as 167 delegates representing more than 19,500 guild members held the DGA’s biennial national convention. Among the election results:
** Laura Belsey was re-elected National Vice President
** Paris Barclay was re-elected Secretary-Treasurer
** Also elected were: First Vice-President Todd Holland; Second Vice-President Ron Howard; Third Vice-President Gina Prince-Bythewood; Fourth Vice-President Seith Mann; Fifth Vice-President Millicent Shelton; Sixth Vice-President Lily Olszewski; and Assistant Secretary-Treasurer Joyce Thomas.
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