## Facts

- Warner Brothers, Inc. (Warner) was a signatory to the Directors Guild of America, Inc.’s (DGA) Basic Agreement (BA), which governs employment terms for covered DGA work.
- Warner hired Harold Ramis, a DGA member, to direct the feature film *Club Paradise*.
- Ramis was hired in the United States.
- Planning and preproduction work for the film occurred in England.
- Principal photography for the film occurred in Jamaica.
- Warner had a voluntary collective-bargaining agreement with the British Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians (ACTT).
- Pursuant to Warner’s ACTT agreement, Warner hired Pat Clayton as first assistant director for the England-based planning and preproduction work.
- It was undisputed that English law prohibited Warner from hiring a DGA first assistant director for the work performed in England.
- When the production moved to Jamaica, Warner kept Clayton as first assistant director for principal photography.
- The DGA claimed Warner violated the BA by not hiring a DGA first assistant director for the Jamaica shoot, because (unlike England) Jamaican labor law did not prohibit hiring a DGA first assistant director.
- Warner responded that its ACTT agreement required it to keep Clayton as first assistant director and that, because the production was based in England and English law prevented a DGA hire there, Warner could continue using the same non-DGA first assistant director after the move to Jamaica.

## Issues

1. Whether Warner, as a BA signatory, was required to employ a DGA first assistant director for principal photography in Jamaica when Jamaican law did not bar such hiring, even though English law barred a DGA hire during the England-based phase of the production.
2. Whether Warner’s voluntary ACTT agreement and the production’s England base excused Warner from staffing the first assistant director position with a DGA member once filming occurred in Jamaica.

## Decision

- The DGA submitted the dispute to arbitration against Warner under the BA’s grievance-arbitration process before the DGA Producers Arbitration Tribunal (Case No. 01882, 1986).
- Publicly available sources describing this matter provide the parties’ positions and factual setting but do not provide the text of the arbitration award, the tribunal’s ruling on the merits, or any remedy ordered.

## Legal Principles

- The case concerned interpretation and application of the BA’s staffing requirements for covered positions, including first assistant director work, in a production that took place in multiple countries.
- The parties’ dispute focused on the effect of a foreign-law bar on hiring DGA personnel (England) and whether that constraint (and related foreign union obligations) could justify using a non-DGA assistant director in a different jurisdiction where the same legal bar was not present (Jamaica).
- The matter raised how a signatory’s obligations under the BA interact with obligations arising from a separate foreign collective-bargaining relationship (here, Warner’s ACTT agreement) when the production relocates.

## Conclusion

This arbitration arose from Warner’s decision to keep a non-DGA first assistant director for *Club Paradise* when production moved from England—where English law barred hiring a DGA first assistant director—to Jamaica, where Jamaican labor law did not impose that bar; the DGA claimed the BA required DGA staffing for the Jamaica principal photography, while Warner argued its ACTT commitment and the production’s England base permitted continued use of the same assistant director.


In the Matter of the Arbitration between Directors Guild of America, Inc. and Warner Brothers, Inc. Relating to “Club Paradise”, Case No. 01882 (1986)