Directors Guild of America

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film and television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Directors Guild in 1936, the group merged with the Radio and Television Directors Guild in 1960 to become the modern Directors Guild of America.

DGA Awards

The DGA hosts the annual DGA Awards, an important precursor to the Academy Awards. In its 69-year history, the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has been a near perfect barometer for both the Best Director, and in some cases, the Best Picture Academy Award. Only seven times has the DGA Award winner not won the corresponding Best Director Academy Award. Honorees are awarded with a statue manufactured by Society Awards.

Student Spotlight Awards

The inaugural DGA Student Film Awards were held in 1995. the DGA Student Spotlight Awards for Underrepresented Directors are awarded to a number of student filmmakers in an underrepresented group in the industry, such as African American, Asian American, Latino, women, and documentary film makers. Each winner receives a $2,500 cash prize.

Credits

The rule that a film can only have one single director was adopted to preserve the continuity of a director's vision and to avoid producers and actors lobbying for a director's credit, or studios hiring multiple directors for a single film or television episode.

The rule is waived only for directorial teams recognized by the DGA who have a history of working together and sharing a common vision. Examples include The Wachowskis, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, Hughes brothers, Russo brothers, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and the Coen brothers.

Non-member directors

Not all Hollywood directors are DGA members. Notable exceptions include George Lucas and Robert Rodriguez. Those who are not members of the guild are unable to direct for the larger movie studios, which are signatories to the guild's agreements that all directors must be guild members.

Leadership

thumb|upright|Directors Guild of America building on [[Sunset Boulevard.]]

thumb|DGA building, Midtown Manhattan

The following are the past Presidents of the Screen Directors Guild and the DGA:

{| class="wikitable sortable"

! Term

! President

! Notes

! Ref.

| 1936–1938 || King Vidor || ||

| 1938–1941 || Frank Capra || ||

| 1941–1943 || George Stevens || ||

| 1943–1944 || Mark Sandrich || ||

| 1944–1946 || John Cromwell || ||

| 1946–1948 || George Stevens || ||

| 1948–1950 || George Marshall || ||

| 1950–1951 || Joseph L. Mankiewicz || ||

| 1951–1959 || George Sidney || ||

| 1959–1961 || Frank Capra || ||

| 1961–1967 || George Sidney || ||

| 1967–1971 || Delbert Mann || ||

| 1971–1975 || Robert Wise || ||

| 1975–1979 || Robert Aldrich || ||

| 1979–1981 || George Schaefer || ||

| 1981–1983 || Jud Taylor || ||

| 1983–1987 || Gilbert Cates || ||

| 1987–1989 || Franklin J. Schaffner || ||

| 1989–1993 || Arthur Hiller || ||

| 1993–1997 || Gene Reynolds || ||

| 1997–2002 || Jack Shea || ||

| 2002–2003 || Martha Coolidge || First female president ||

| 2003–2009 || Michael Apted || ||

| 2009–2013 || Taylor Hackford || ||

| 2013–2017 || Paris Barclay || First black and first openly gay president ||

| 2017–2021 || Thomas Schlamme || ||

| 2021–2025 || Lesli Linka Glatter || ||

| 2025–present || Christopher Nolan || ||

DGA Director's Finder Series

The Director's Finder Series (or Director's Finder Screening Series), inaugurated in December 1998, provides for the screening of independent films with no U.S. distributor, and no previous TV or other distribution. Selected by a lottery, the films are screened in DGA theatres in Los Angeles and New York City to an audience of DGA members and invited potential distributors. Many films have been picked up by distributors via the series that may not otherwise have been spotted. The series was initiated by the DGA's Independent Directors' Committee, chaired by Steven Soderbergh, initially for U.S. films only, but later expanded to include Australian, Irish, British and New Zealand directors, via the International Association of English-Speaking Directors Organisation (IAESDO). By 2007, the series had screened more than 75 films. and the Australian Directors' Guild (ADG), which nominate one film to participate.

Australian entries, selected for the Finders Series Award by the ADG from a shortlist of four, Tony Krawitz's documentary The Tall Man (2012), and in 2014 Catriona McKenzie's Satellite Boy was selected for the series.

Irish entries include Terry McMahon's Patrick's Day (2014) and Ross Whitaker's Katie (2018).