Directors to launch new organisation

TV, film and new media directors, led by Michael Apted, will launch a new organisation in May called Directors UK, reports Lisa Campbell for Broadcast (free registration required).

Directors UK (D-UK) will officially launch in May with director Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday, The Bourne Ultimatum, United 93) as its president, and writer/director Charles Sturridge (Brideshead Revisited, Longitude, Shackleton) as the chair of its board.

Its vice-chairmen are Simon Berthon and Tim Sullivan, and board members include Peter Kosminsky, Brian Hill and Simon Curtis. It is the first time that UK directors will benefit from a single organisation encompassing everything from pay and conditions to content rights.

Sturridge said: "A very energetic and large group of directors have worked over the past 18 months to launch this new and vital organisation - a single, representative voice for all UK film, TV and new media directors."

Campbell reports that Directors UK has been created out of the Directors' and Producers' Rights Society (DPRS). However, no mention is made in either the article or the accompanying editorial of any relationship with the Directors Guild of Great Britain.