## Facts

- Directors Guild of America, Inc. (DGA) is a labor organization representing directors and certain related classifications under a collective-bargaining agreement known as the DGA Basic Agreement (BA).
- Cannon Group, Inc. (Cannon) is a film-production company and a signatory to the BA.
- Cannon produced the feature film *America 3000*, and filming took place in Israel.
- Cannon hired David Engelbach, a DGA member, to direct *America 3000*.
- Engelbach directed the film under the terms of the BA, and Cannon transported him from the United States to Israel for the production.
- The BA required Cannon to hire a DGA first assistant director for the film, but Cannon did not do so.
- The DGA initiated an arbitration (Case No. 2608) alleging Cannon violated the BA by failing to employ a DGA first assistant director.
- Cannon responded that competent first assistant directors were readily available in Israel.

## Issues

1. Whether, under the DGA Basic Agreement, a BA-signatory producer filming in Israel was required to employ a DGA first assistant director on *America 3000* when it employed a DGA director under the BA.
2. Whether the asserted availability of competent, non-DGA first assistant directors in Israel excused Cannon from the BA’s first-assistant-director staffing requirement.
3. If a violation was found, what form of contractual relief the arbitrator could award under the BA.

## Decision

- The dispute proceeded as a labor arbitration between the DGA and Cannon under the DGA Basic Agreement, identified as Case No. 2608 (1989), and relating to *America 3000*.
- Publicly accessible summaries describe the dispute and the parties’ positions, but do not disclose the arbitration award’s full reasoning, the prevailing party, or the remedy (if any).

## Legal Principles

- A signatory employer and a labor organization may be required by their collective-bargaining agreement to resolve covered disputes through the agreement’s grievance and arbitration procedure.
- When a collective-bargaining agreement sets staffing requirements for covered classifications (including first assistant director), the obligation—along with any exceptions—depends on the agreement’s terms as interpreted in arbitration.
- An employer’s claim that qualified local personnel are available at a foreign shooting location does not, by itself, establish a contractual exception to a staffing requirement; any exception must be supported by the agreement’s language or accepted arbitral interpretation.
- In labor arbitration, any remedy must come from the collective-bargaining agreement and the arbitrator’s authority under that agreement.

## Conclusion

This matter concerns a 1989 arbitration under the DGA Basic Agreement in which the DGA claimed Cannon breached the BA by failing to hire a DGA first assistant director for *America 3000*, filmed in Israel, while Cannon argued that competent first assistant directors were readily available locally; the publicly available record does not disclose the award’s final disposition or remedy.


In the Matter of the Arbitration between Directors Guild of America, Inc. and Cannon Group, Inc. Relating to “America 3000”, Case No. 2608 (1989)