The Motion Picture Directors Association (MPDA) was an American non-profit fraternal organization formed by 26

film directors A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

on June 18, 1915, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The organization selected a headquarters to be built there in 1921. Its articles of incorporation stated as that the organization existed to: # To maintain the honor and dignity of the profession of motion picture directors; # To cultivate the usefulness and exert every influence to improve the moral, social and intellectual standing of all persons connected with the motion picture producing business; # To cultivate social intercourse among its members; # To aid and assist all worthy distressed members of this association, their wives, widows and orphans. The following year MPDA members helped their fellow directors working in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to form their own branch association. It was officially incorporated in January 1917 with

Allan Dwan Allan Dwan (born Joseph Aloysius Dwan; April 3, 1885 – December 28, 1981) was a pioneering Canadian-born American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter. Early life Born Joseph Aloysius Dwan in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Dwan was ...

elected as its first head.

Lois Weber Florence Lois Weber (June 13, 1879 – November 13, 1939) was an American silent film director, screenwriter, producer and actress. She is identified in some historical references as among "the most important and prolific film directors in the e ...

(1879-1939) was the only woman granted membership in the Motion Picture Directors Association. The organization lasted until 1936 when members of the MPDA helped create the Screen Directors Guild, an official

craft union Craft unionism refers to a model of trade unionism in which workers are organised based on the particular craft or trade in which they work. It contrasts with industrial unionism, in which all workers in the same industry are organized into the sa ...

. Some of the founders and early members of the MPDA were:

William C. DeMille William Churchill deMille (July 25, 1878 – March 5, 1955), also spelled de Mille or De Mille, was an American screenwriter and film director from the silent film era through the early 1930s. He was also a noted playwright prior to moving into ...

John Ford John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), better known as John Ford, was an American film director and producer. He is regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and w ...

Charles Giblyn Charles Giblyn (September 6, 1871 – March 14, 1934) was an American film director and actor of the silent film, silent era. He directed nearly 100 films between 1912 and 1927. He also appeared in 23 films between 1914 and 1934. He was one ...

Joe De Grasse Joseph Louis De Grasse (May 4, 1873 – May 25, 1940) was a Canadian film director. Born in Bathurst, New Brunswick, he was the elder brother of actor Sam De Grasse. Biography Joseph De Grasse had studied and was a first-class graduate of ac ...

Eddie Lyons Eddie Lyons (November 25, 1886 – August 30, 1926) was an American film actor, director, writer, and producer of the silent era. He appeared in 388, directed 153, wrote for 93, and produced 40 films between 1911 and 1926. He was born in B ...

J. Searle Dawley James Searle Dawley (October 4, 1877 – March 30, 1949) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, stage actor, and playwright. Between 1907 and the mid-1920s, while working for Edison, Rex Motion Picture Company, Famous Playe ...

Harry L. Franklin Harry L. Franklin (September 5, 1880 – July 3, 1927) was a director of silent films in the United States. Life Franklin was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and began his film directing career as an assistant to Edwin Carewe. He worked for Me ...

George Melford George H. Melford (born George Henry Knauff, February 19, 1877 – April 25, 1961) was an American stage and film actor and director. Often taken for granted as a director today, the stalwart Melford's name by the 1920s was, like Cecil B. DeMil ...

Sidney Olcott Sidney Olcott (born John Sidney Allcott; September 20, 1872 – December 16, 1949) was a Canadian-born film producer, director, actor and screenwriter. Biography Born John Sidney Allcott in Toronto, he became one of the first great dire ...

William Desmond Taylor William Desmond Taylor (born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner; 26 April 1872 – 1 February 1922) was an Anglo-Irish-American film director and actor. A popular figure in the growing Cinema of the United States, Hollywood motion picture colony o ...

Maurice Tourneur Maurice Félix Thomas (; 2 February 1876 – 4 August 1961), known as Maurice Tourneur (), was a French film director and screenwriter. Life Born Maurice Félix Thomas in the Épinettes district (17th arrondissement of Paris), his father was a w ...

Laurence Trimble Laurence Norwood Trimble (February 15, 1885 – February 8, 1954) was an American silent film film director, director, screenwriter, writer and actor. Trimble began his film career directing Jean (dog), Jean, the Vitagraph Dog, the first canine ...

References

External links

A collection of early press items pertaining to the MPDA.
* Entertainment industry unions Trade unions established in 1915 Organizations disestablished in 1936 1915 establishments in California 1936 disestablishments in California {{US-trade-union-stub