Australian Directors' Guild
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Australian Directors' Guild (ADG) is an industry
guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometim ...
representing the interests of
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...
,
television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
, commercials and
digital media Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ...
directors, including documentary makers and animators, throughout Australia. With its headquarters in
Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...
, the ADG has branches in
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
,
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...
,
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...
,
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
and
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...
. the president of ADG is
Rowan Woods Rowan Woods (born 1959) is an Australian AACTA Award-winning film and television director, actor and screenwriter. Career Film Woods directed '' The Boys'' in 1998 and won an ACCTA Award for Best Direction. The film was also entered into the 4 ...
. Founded initially as the Australian Feature Film Directors' Association in September, 1981 and renamed the Australian Screen Directors' Association four months later, the organisation became the Australian Directors' Guild in 2007 in order to align itself more clearly to other international directors guilds which had for some years been strengthening their ties with each other and with their Australian counterpart. In 2014, the ADG membership voted unanimously for constitutional changes to enable the Guild to register as a
trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
under Australia's federal '' Industrial Relations Act 1988''. In February, 2015 registration as an industrial organisation was approved by the
Fair Work Commission The Fair Work Commission (FWC), until 2013 known as Fair Work Australia (FWA), is the Australian industrial relations tribunal created by the '' Fair Work Act 2009'' as part of the Rudd Government's reforms to industrial relations in Austral ...
.


Overview

The ADG is a craft association representing screen directors working in all genres. It seeks to promote excellence in screen direction through seminars, conferences, workshops and awards, to encourage communication and collaboration between directors and others in the industry, to provide professional support for its members, to represent the interests of directors in cultural and policy debates and decisions and to play a constructive role in matters affecting the Australian screen industry as a whole. The ADG is governed by a board of directors, elected from and by the membership, and appoints a full-time executive director and a coordinator. The ADG provides members with information, access, professional advice and advocacy relating to issues that affect directors – such as contracts, fees, codes of practice, rights and disputes. It maintains and provides connections with overseas Guilds through its affiliation with the International Association of English Speaking Directors Organisations (IAESDO). The Guild organises a Directors Attachment Scheme in cooperation with
Screen Australia Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...
whereby successful applicants are placed in productions in order to gain experience working in film or television. Beginning in 1993, the ADG has held regular directors conferences and between 1988 and 2008, it printed a newsletter which later became the magazine, ''Screen Director''. Current issues of ''Screen Director'' are available online. In 2007 the ADG began giving annual awards for directors. These have grown to include 17 categories with special awards recognising service and achievement. Ozdox, a semi-autonomous documentary group affiliated with the ADG and working closely with Guild staff, fosters and promotes documentary culture, primarily through discussion screenings and seminars. Founded in 2003, Ozdox encourages documentary directors to become members of the ADG. In 1995 the ADG formed the Australian Screen Directors Authorship Collecting Society (ASDACS) to collect overseas royalties for distribution to Australian and New Zealand directors As of 2014, the ADG had a membership of over 700, including full/retired members, associate members and student members. Full members must be refereed and their credentials approved by the ADG Board. Membership fees are determined according to annual wage levels and state location. Guild Chapters in
New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...
,
Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...
,
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest o ...
,
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
and
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...
organise a range of local events and activities and liaise with their relevant State screen bodies. The staff and operations of the Guild are financed through fees for membership, income from events, a small percent of overseas royalties collected through ASDACS, a voluntary levy from the budgets of members' productions and sponsorship from state and federal film bodies, Screenrights and Media Super.


History


1981 – 1991

In early 1981, a meeting of film directors was held in response to plans to import an overseas director for Hoodwink, a feature film financed by Australian taxpayers through the New South Wales Film Corporation. The meeting held the view that the development of Australian directors was a key part of the rationale for government funding of films. Failing to gain support for their opposition from the relevant industry union, the Australian Theatrical & Amusement Employees Association (AT&AEA), the directors decided to set up the Australian Feature Film Directors Association. In around September 1981, 18 directors met at the AT&AEA headquarters in the Sydney suburb of Glebe to sign the Articles of Association. Nine directors were the formal signatories:
Gillian Armstrong Gillian May Armstrong (born 18 December 1950) is an Australian feature film and documentary director, who specializes in period drama. Her films often feature female perspectives and protagonists. Many of her movies are historical dramas. E ...
,
James Ricketson James Staniforth Ricketson is an Australian film director, known for the feature film ''Blackfellas''. He became more widely known when he was charged with espionage for flying a drone in Cambodia in 2017. Film career Ricketson studied at the ...
, Esben Storm,
Albie Thoms Albie Thoms (28 July 1941 – 28 November 2012) was an Australian film director, writer, and producer. He was born in Sydney, Australia. He was nominated for at the 1979 AFI Awards for Best Original Screenplay for Palm Beach. He is best known ...
,
Henri Safran Henri Safran (born 7 October 1932) is a Paris-born director who worked extensively in Australia. He worked in French television, then in Britain, before moving to Australia in 1960 to work with the ABC. He became an Australian citizen in 1963 but ...
, Keith Salvat,
Tom Jeffrey Tom Morven Jeffrey (born 26 September 1938) is an Australian film and television producer and director. He worked at the ABC and BBC, becoming an ABC drama director in the late 1960s.Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, ''Australian Film 1900–1977: ...
, Carl Schultz and Michael Pate. The organisation soon attracted interest from directors other than feature film directors, especially from television directors, leading to the decision to change its name to the Australian Screen Directors Association (ASDA). New signatories to the ASDA Articles of Association on 15 January 1982 included Phillip Noyce and
Stephen Wallace Stephen Henry Wallace A.M. (born 23 December 1943) is an Australian film and television director, screenwriter, producer, published author and acting coach. He has directed eight feature films, nine telemovies, numerous short films, worked on ...
and a number of directors best known for their television work: John Power, Maurice Murphy,
Peter Maxwell Peter Maxwell (23 January 1921 – 5 April 2013) born as Peter Magitai, was a British, and later Australian director and screenwriter of television and film. Biography He was born in Vienna, Austria, to newspaper journalist Leo Magatai an ...
, Ron Way and Ian Barry. In the years that followed, ASDA continued to concern itself with the importation of overseas directors, supporting directors of note and where Australian directors were also included in the projects. A range of cultural events, meetings and seminars were organized and, as membership grew, membership fees enabled the employment of a manager. Attempts at instituting a standard directors contract proved fruitless as the Screen Producers Association of Australia (SPAA) refused to negotiate, citing ASDA's lack of industrial registration as its reason. Nevertheless, in 1985 a disputes committee was formed and ASDA continued to represent directors in disputes with producers. ASDA Board meetings were initially held in members' houses or at an industry watering hole, the 729 Club, until 1984 by which time income had increased sufficiently for the establishment of an office in the suburb of Glebe. In 1985, with the admission of documentary directors, membership reached 100, but the influence of ASDA through its various activities reached many more directors as well as others interested/involved in film and television production. These cultural events also became a source of finance. As the organization developed further, eventually including membership in other capital cities, the
Australian Film Commission The Australian Film Commission (AFC) was an Australian government agency was founded in 1975 with a mandate to promote the creation and distribution of films in Australia as well as to preserve the country's film history. It also had a producti ...
(AFC) began to give financial support to ASDA's cultural events and seminars. Correlatively, with the growth of membership and establishment of a financial base, ASDA was able to play a role in the politics of the industry. Lobbying on behalf of directors' viewpoints on a range of issues soon became one of the Association's primary activities.


1992 – 1999

By 1992 ASDA membership was around 200 and, as activity within the organisation increased, this number soon doubled. By the end of the decade, members numbered almost 900, including both associate and student members. During the 1990s, members participated directly in the Association through a range of committees including a documentary committee, an animators committee, a television directors committee, a women's committee, events committee and policy committee, among others. President Stephen Wallace, in revitalising ASDA, recognised the members' interest in the art/craft of directing and proposed the institution of a Directors Conference and Directors Discussion Screenings. Many such screenings were held over the following years, along with a range of seminars and meetings to discuss industry policy. ASDA's first National Directors Conference was held in June 1993. Over the next years, these conferences coincided with ASDA's AGM and became forums for policy debate as well as for exploration of directing issues. During this period also, ASDA continued its participation in industry policy development with submissions to and meetings with relevant organisations, reviews and government departments. Work on a Standard TV directors contract was begun and a reconstituted Disputes Committee began life by dealing with a serious television dispute arising in some measure out of the lack of such a contract. Other disputes continued to be brought to the committee by directors working in many areas of the industry. In 1999, one of these disputes, with Channel 9 over wages for directors on the ''Far Scape'' series, brought the long-simmering issue of industrial representation to the fore. President Stephen Wallace vigorously rejected the view that ASDA should work through the industry union, the
Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), also sometimes referred to as the Alliance, is the Australian trade union and professional organisation which covers the media industry, media, entertainment industry, entertainment, sports and a ...
(MEAA) but rather that it should itself seek industrial registration. ASDA's efforts to develop standard directors' contracts continued and in 1999 Neil Haggquist, the business agent for the
Directors Guild of Canada The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) is a Canadian labour union representing more than 5,500 professionals from 48 different occupations in the Canadian film and television industry. Founded in 1962, the DGC represents directors, editors, assist ...
(DGC) was brought to Australia to help develop a contract which would be acceptable both to Australian and US companies. Also in this period a prolonged struggle to achieve
Moral Rights Moral rights are rights of creators of copyrighted works generally recognized in civil law jurisdictions and, to a lesser extent, in some common law jurisdictions. The moral rights include the right of attribution, the right to have a work ...
for directors was initiated when both federal government film agencies, the
Australian Film Commission The Australian Film Commission (AFC) was an Australian government agency was founded in 1975 with a mandate to promote the creation and distribution of films in Australia as well as to preserve the country's film history. It also had a producti ...
and the
Film Finance Corporation Australia The Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) was the government agency responsible for funding commercial productions of Australian film, documentary, and television from 1988 to 2008. Unlike other publicly funded organisations responsible for f ...
, as well as the
Australian Writers Guild The Australian Writers' Guild (AWG) is the professional association for Australian performance writers for film, television, radio, theatre, video and new media. The AWG was established in 1962. The AWG is a member of the Australian Council ...
came out in opposition to the inclusion of directors as authors in mooted changes to the Copyright law of Australia. ASDA understood that the authorship of screen directors was not well-recognised and was under additional threat in a changing global and technological landscape. As a consequence, many of its activities at this time were aimed at fostering a better understanding of the director's role. Thanks to these efforts, when Moral Rights legislation was introduced into the Copyright Act in 2000, directors were defined as makers of a film along with writers and producers. Importantly, with the subsequent passing of the 2006 Copyright Amendment Act, ASDA and the Australian Writers Guild, now working together, managed to achieve protection for their members from contractual pressures to waive their moral rights – a waiver which is permitted and widely exercised in some other jurisdictions, notably in the United States. In 1994, ASDA President
Stephen Wallace Stephen Henry Wallace A.M. (born 23 December 1943) is an Australian film and television director, screenwriter, producer, published author and acting coach. He has directed eight feature films, nine telemovies, numerous short films, worked on ...
, at the invitation of the late
John Juliani John Juliani (March 24, 1940, Montreal – August 21, 2003, Vancouver) was a Canadian actor, writer, producer, director and educator. His career spanned four decades in a number of different media, including radio and film. In addition to his art ...
the DGC (
Directors Guild of Canada The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) is a Canadian labour union representing more than 5,500 professionals from 48 different occupations in the Canadian film and television industry. Founded in 1962, the DGC represents directors, editors, assist ...
), met in Toronto with the DGA (
Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film director, film and television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dire ...
) and BECTU (Britain's
Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union The Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (BECTU), formerly the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union, became a sector of the Prospect trade union in the United Kingdom on 1 January 2017 following the ...
), thus beginning a process of achieving closer relationships with overseas guilds. Subsequently, ASDA regularly participated in the annual International Directors' Guild Forum, an event which it hosted in Sydney in 1998. Similarly in 1995, ASDA formed ASDACS (the Australian Directors Collecting Society) after having been approached by the
Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques SACD, founded as Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques ( en, Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers) on 7 March 1829, is a French collecting society, undertaking collective rights management for authors. The Society manages, promotes ...
to distribute money collected on behalf of directors from the sale of video tapes in France. ASDACS subsequently formed further relationships with other European collecting societies and in recent years has distributed roughly half a million dollars annually to its 800 director members in Australia and New Zealand. In 1999, ASDA made further gains for directors in arguing for their inclusion as beneficiaries under the retransmission scheme proposed in the Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act (2000). These efforts came to fruition in 2005 through the Copyright Amendment (Film Directors' Rights) Act, providing for film directors to share in retransmission royalties along with producers in certain cases.


2000 – 2014

By the end of the 1990s, political, social and technological changes were resulting in a diminution of member involvement in many organizations across Australia and ASDA was not immune to these changes. Most of the member committees of the earlier period had become inactive, members meetings became infrequent, and most of the work fell to active members of the board—particularly successive association presidents
Donald Crombie Donald Charles Crombie (born 5 July 1942) is an Australian film and television director and screenwriter. Born in Brisbane, Crombie was educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School and studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. Cr ...
and Ray Argall—and to the executive directors: Richard Harris (1998-2007), Drew Macrae (2007-2009), In 2009–2011, the ADG also employed an industrial relations and policy manager, Needeya Islam. Much of their time was claimed by industrial issues, international relations and the necessity of participation in a large number of policy debates and reviews of public sector institutions and regulations, with their attendant demands for consultations, participation in industry committees and detailed submissions. In this period also, digital media became an increasingly significant area of concern as rapid transformations affected telecommunications, television and "film" which was increasingly moving away from celluloid formats. Thanks to consistent participation in industry politics and promotion of directors' viewpoints, by the time the association changed its name to the Australian Directors' Guild (ADG) in 2007, it had become a well-established and well-recognised player in a complex industry/cultural scene in which seemingly every possible craft and interest group was establishing its own organised representation. ADG President Ray Argall became involved in the work of the Australian Screen Council, an attempt, ultimately ill-fated, to bring the screen guilds together. More broadly and in line with the ADG's understanding of the increasing impact of globalisation on Australian screen, Argall officially represented Australia in the founding of the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity in Seville in 2007. He is currently the Asia Pacific member of the Federation Board and coordinates the Australian Coalition for Cultural Diversity. It was in this period also that the ADG finalised rate cards for directors' fees. And while directors' contracts had also been drafted, the ability to negotiate with producers for their implementation still remained a stumbling block. In 2014, following discussions with MEAA and SPAA, the ADG received unanimous support from its members for the constitutional changes necessary for registration as an industrial union. The ADG continued to maintain a focus on directors' creative and craft issues through seminars and discussion screenings in capital cities, at its national conference, and in collaboration with a range of other industry organisations, educational institutions and film festivals.


Awards

At the 1995 conference, ASDA presented the first Cecil Holmes Award in recognition of services to directing. The Award is now generally given in alternate years or with the identification of a deserving recipient.


Cecil Holmes Award

• 1995 Richard Mason
• 1996
Gil Brealey Gilbert John Brealey (9 April 1932 – 1 April 2018) was an Australian television and film director, producer and writer. Brealey was born in Melbourne, and studied at the University of Melbourne, where he made his first amateur films around th ...

• 1997 Freda Glynn, Phillip Batty
• 1999 Lilias Fraser
• 2001
Tim Burstall Timothy Burstall AM (20 April 1927 – 19 April 2004) was an English Australian film director, writer and producer, best known for hit Australian movie '' Alvin Purple'' (1973) and its sequel '' Alvin Rides Again''. Burstall's films featured ...

• 2002 Michael Thornhill
• 2003
John Flaus John Flaus (born 1934) is an Australian broadcaster and actor. Filmography *''Rake'' (2014) *''Tracks'' (2013) *''Jack Irish'' (2012-2021) - 3 films and 15 episodes as Wilbur *''Pinion'' (2010) *''I Love You Too'' (2010) *''Mary and Max'' (2 ...

• 2004 Amanda Higgs
• 2005 John Maynard
• 2006
Rolf de Heer Rolf de Heer (born 4 May 1951) is a Dutch Australian film director. De Heer was born in Heemskerk in the Netherlands but migrated to Sydney when he was eight years old.

• 2007
Donald Crombie Donald Charles Crombie (born 5 July 1942) is an Australian film and television director and screenwriter. Born in Brisbane, Crombie was educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School and studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. Cr ...

• 2008
Tom Zubrycki Tom Zubrycki (born in London, England, in 1946) is an Australian documentary filmmaker. He is "widely respected as one of Australia's leading documentary filmmakers", according to ''The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film''. Hi ...

• 2009 Paul Cox
• 2011 Sally Riley,
Erica Glynn Erica Glynn (born 1964) is an Indigenous Australian filmmaker, known for directing, producing and writing documentaries and other films. Early life, education and family Glynn was born in 1964. She is the daughter of photographer Freda Glynn, ...
(daughter of Freda Glynn)
• 2012
Stephen Wallace Stephen Henry Wallace A.M. (born 23 December 1943) is an Australian film and television director, screenwriter, producer, published author and acting coach. He has directed eight feature films, nine telemovies, numerous short films, worked on ...

• 2012 Michael Frankel, Greg Duffy
• 2017 Courtney Gibson
• 2018
Ray Argall Raymond Charles Argall (born 31 May 1957) is best known as a cinematographer and director for both film and television. He has also worked as an editor. His multi-award-winning feature film ''Return Home'' (1990) is regarded by many critics as ...


ADG Directors Awards

In 2007, the first ADG Directors Awards were established. They are open to financial members in all categories and are the only Australian film directing awards judged solely by directors. This was the year in which the ADG was first included in the Directors Finder Series by the
Directors Guild of America The Directors Guild of America (DGA) is an entertainment guild that represents the interests of film director, film and television director, television directors in the United States motion picture industry and abroad. Founded as the Screen Dire ...
. The DGA Finders Series spotlights the director of an undistributed independent film chosen from member countries within the International Association of English-Speaking Directors Organizations (IAESDO). The Finder's Award was relaunched by the ADG in 2012, and in 2014 an Innovation Award was also established. In 2018,
Larissa Behrendt Larissa Yasmin Behrendt (born 1969) is an Australian legal academic, writer, filmmaker and Indigenous rights advocate. she is a professor of law and director of research and academic programs at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education ...
won "Best Direction of a Documentary Feature Film" for ''After the Apology'', which was partly funded by the Adelaide Film Festival's Indigenous Feature Documentary Initiative. In May 2019, ten awards were presented, as well as the top prize of Best Direction in a Feature Film, which
Warwick Thornton Warwick Thornton (born 1970) is an Australian film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. His debut feature film '' Samson and Delilah'' won the Caméra d'Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and the award for Best Film at the Asia Pacific ...
won for '' Sweet Country''. Another major winner was Rachel Perkins, with '' Mystery Road'', Series.


Presidents

* 1981–82
Gillian Armstrong Gillian May Armstrong (born 18 December 1950) is an Australian feature film and documentary director, who specializes in period drama. Her films often feature female perspectives and protagonists. Many of her movies are historical dramas. E ...
* 1982–85 Phillip Noyce * 1986 Chris Thompson (for eight months) * 1987–89 Chris Noonan * 1989–90 Graham Thorburn * 1991 Roger Hudson * 1992–2001
Stephen Wallace Stephen Henry Wallace A.M. (born 23 December 1943) is an Australian film and television director, screenwriter, producer, published author and acting coach. He has directed eight feature films, nine telemovies, numerous short films, worked on ...
* 2001–06
Donald Crombie Donald Charles Crombie (born 5 July 1942) is an Australian film and television director and screenwriter. Born in Brisbane, Crombie was educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School and studied at the National Institute of Dramatic Art. Cr ...
* 2006–15
Ray Argall Raymond Charles Argall (born 31 May 1957) is best known as a cinematographer and director for both film and television. He has also worked as an editor. His multi-award-winning feature film ''Return Home'' (1990) is regarded by many critics as ...
* 2015–December 2021
Samantha Lang Samantha Lang is an Australian film director and screenwriter. Her production company is Handmaid Media. Early life and education Samantha Lang was born in London, England, migrating to Australia with her family at the age of 14. She atten ...
* December 2021–present ()
Rowan Woods Rowan Woods (born 1959) is an Australian AACTA Award-winning film and television director, actor and screenwriter. Career Film Woods directed '' The Boys'' in 1998 and won an ACCTA Award for Best Direction. The film was also entered into the 4 ...


References


External links

* {{Authority control Film organisations in Australia Entertainment industry unions