DGA: Hire More DIRECTORS

From Deadline:

The DGA is calling on the industry to make a “revolutionary” move to increase employment for first-time women and minority TV directors: Hire more directors and fewer actors and writer/producers to direct the shows.

According to a new, six-year study of hiring practices, 46% of all the first-time episodic TV directors were actors or writer/producers. The report found that writer/producers made up 26% of the first-time episodic director pool, while actors made up 20%. Cinematographers/camera operators were 8%; editors totaled 5%; and other crew made up 6%.

Surprisingly, only 27% of first-time hires were individuals who had previously directed in other genres including independent film, new media, commercials, music videos, student films and documentaries. ...

“As it stands now,” said DGA president Paris Barclay, “nearly half of the new hires are writer/producers or actors. It may sound revolutionary, but those with the power to hire may want to consider bringing in more directors – people who are committed to directing as a career – instead of approaching the assignment as a perk. ...

This is not an issue in the Animation Guild.

Board artists and animators are in the Animation Guild. Animation writers are (mostly) in the Animation Guild. So anyone who gets promoted into the director's chair in Cartoonland, she or he is going to be a Guild member to start with, and not somebody from SAG-AFTRA or the WGA who's making a side-trip into the jurisdiction of the Directors Guild of America.

It's understandable the DGA is a little prickly about the trend. Don't know what they can do about it.