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THE DIRECTOR’S SERVICES AGREEMENT

Like professional actors, professional directors have their own union, the Directors Guild of America (DGA) (www.DGA.org). According to the DGA,“The Director’s function is to contribute to all of the creative elements of a film and to participate in molding and integrating them into one cohesive dramatic and aesthetic whole.”1

Although many independent films are made with nonunion directors, the DGA’s definition of a director is instructional in that it outlines the expectation of every director—that is, to be involved in all of the creative aspects of a film’s production. Not surprisingly, many of the battles fought between directors and the production companies which hire them involve issues of creative ...

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