Our Work

We campaign for improved access and opportunity for women & diverse directors working in film and TV, aiming to move beyond current gross under-representation of women. Read more about ‘Gender Concerns in the Irish Film and Television Industry. See Women’s working group.

We campaign for more and better engagement between broadcasters and directors. With drama the single biggest broadcaster growth opportunity being reliant on directing talent, broadcaster engagement is vital to the sustainability of the Irish Film and Television industry.

We campaign for investment in resourcing filmmakers in line with growth in the industry — including through support organisations like SDGI. The Irish Film Board supports Irish directors through SDGI — we campaign for other stakeholders to match this investment.

Directors show up giving 100% of themselves to a project, working long days in increasingly pressured schedules, embracing new technology skills, COVID protocols and working with tightening budgets.

The Challenge

Directors undertake the job of visionary creative, solving complex problems and identifying effective economic solutions on productions yet productions demand that directors accept pay that has been frozen for years despite productions making healthy profits and the expansion of SVOD services. Freelance directors careers are too unstable to challenge unfair pay as they risk being black-listed.

Join The Campaign

The time is now to change rates for directors, for too long too much money is spent on production and not the key creatives that lead the production. SDGI is calling for proper investment in the directors both up front and at the back end. Join our fight for director pay equity by registering a job on our director pay portal so we can better understand your pay on a project and start campaigning for you.

Register directors pay details in our Pay Portal

Add as much or as little information on your project, the director’s rate being the most important piece of information.

Project Name

Production Company

Project Commencement *

Daily Directors Rate

Weekly Directors Rate

Development Fee

Your Name

Your Email *

Submit

5 Resources on Pay for Directors 

Read Financial Terms for Directors GUIDE 

Read SDGI’s terms to help you understand contractual terms relating to your pay as a director.

READ HERE

Use this GUIDE for your projects with Arts Council

Use this guide for your projects with Arts Council. In this Fair and Equitable Remuneration and Contracting Policy, the Arts Council articulates its position and expectations with regard to remuneration and contracting within the arts sector.

READ HERE

Read this GUIDE on Directors’ Pay in Europe

Learn how directors and authors are paid. Read an explainer guide made by the SAA on on how directors and authors are paid for their work.

 READ HERE

Learn about Directors Guild of America Residuals 

In the USA directors recieve “residuals” and include television reruns, home video releases, and exhibition on pay television and subscription video on demand services. Residuals obligations do not depend on profitability, they are triggered by the project’s exhibition. Different formulas apply depending on the nature of the project and where it is used. Residuals can be based on gross receipts, telecasts, or the period of time a project is exhibited.

READ HERE

Read Director’s Earnings Report from FERA  

Read a report by FERA on Directors’ Pay across Europe.

READ HERE

Watch Explainer Video

Watch this old but useful video that presents the principles of the situation for European screenwriters and directors. What are the professional lives of screenwriters and directors like? How do they make a living and what are the challenges they face?

We campaign for directors’ rights around equitable access to tax exemption under existing legislation. We seek more fair and consistent interpretations of taxation legislation so that the work of screen directors is not discriminated against based on outdated definitions of art and its viewing contexts.

We campaign for better bargaining power for directors regarding their contracts, especially related to copyright buy-outs, access to revenue data, and proportionate remuneration. Collective bargaining can tip the balance towards a more equitable industry future and adjust contracts accordingly.

We campaign for the equitable application of Ireland’s landmark Copyright Act of 2000, in which screen directors are designated as authors and therefore given rights to authorise or forbid cable retransmission. Millions of Euro in fees are transferred each year to producers, not directors, and we campaign to secure these fees for directors.