Guild Secures Major Gains in NFB Deal

“This agreement puts NFB productions in line with industry standards, basing Directors’ compensation on budget, not the length of their film, and limiting production delays. We believe this deal not only guarantees a fair contract for our members, but will strengthen the NFB in helping it to attract the most talented creators our industry has to offer.”

Warren P. Sonoda, DGC President

The DGC has reached a new collective agreement with the National Film Board, dramatically changing the pay structure to one proportional to budget and creating new penalties for production delays attributed solely to the NFB – one of the most common complaints of our members.

This contract applies to all directors and 1st assistant directors working on productions that are either 100% NFB financed, or Co-Productions financed by at least 40% NFB funds, excluding French-language content from the Quebec studio. The 2022-2025 DGC/NFB Agreement is a minimum term agreement. Directors and the NFB may negotiate better terms and conditions. They cannot negotiate lesser terms and conditions.

The deal was ratified by eligible DGC Members who’ve worked under an NFB contract by an overwhelming majority.

A detailed description of all changes under the new collective agreement can be found here.

Highlights: Documentary Productions

• Documentary directors guaranteed a minimum fee equal to 10% of the production budget, or $3,500, whichever is greater
• Payments divided into a minimum of 14 instalments and, during the production phase, additional payment installments will be paid upon completion of shooting blocks.

Highlights: Animation Productions

• A single contract for animated production rather than splitting a director’s contract between “directing work” and “animating work”, agreed to under a letter of agreement
• Animation directors also performing animation on a production are guaranteed a minimum fee equal to 30% of the production budget less fees paid to other animators, 12.5% of budget for directors performing no animation work (15% for budgets of 100K or less)
• Payments will be divided into a minimum of 10 instalments. During the production phase, monthly payments will be paid based on the animation progress.

Production Delays 

The biggest complaint from DGC Directors involved delays in the production schedules. Directors need to have a reasonable idea on the length of time it will take to finish a production in order to properly negotiate their fees as well as knowing when they will be free to accept other projects.

The new agreement takes an important step to incentivize the NFB to be more respectful of the production schedule. When there are postponements uniquely attributable to the NFB, the Director shall be entitled to a penalty equivalent to 10% of the total Director’s fee for directing services, prorated over the period of three months, paid in equal monthly installments for each full month of postponement. Delays of over three months uniquely attributable to the NFB shall be considered a suspension of the production. In this case the Director may choose to terminate the directing contract and, in addition, obtain compensation equivalent to the amount of the next scheduled installment payment up to a maximum of $5,000.

While drama productions are very rare at the NFB, the same conditions as for documentaries will apply except for budgets over $1,000,000, where the fee is negotiable but cannot be less than $100,000.