The first professional union of American film directors was founded in 1936 as the Screen Directors Guild. The laureate of the first award issued by the Guild was D. W. Griffith who received an Honorary Life Member Award in 1938. The award ceremony became an annual affair in 1948. In 1960 the organization merged with the Radio and Television Directors Guild to form the Directors Guild of America. Since then, the Guild’s award has been known as the DGA Award.
The annual DGA Awards are held in late January or early February. They are considered an important precursor to the Academy Awards and a nearly perfect indicator of success at the Oscars. Since the DGA Award’s inception, only 7 films (as of 2015) have won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film and have failed to win the corresponding Academy Award. Winners are awarded with a statuette manufactured by Society Awards.
All DGA Award categories can be divided into three big groups – Film, Television & Commercial, and Special Awards. Film categories include Feature Film, First-Time Feature Film, and Documentary. TV & Commercial categories are: Movies for Television and Mini-Series, Dramatic Series, Comedy Series, Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Series, Variety/Talk/News/Sports – Specials, Reality Programs, Children’s Programs, News, Commercials. Special awards include Lifetime Achievement in Feature Film, Lifetime Achievement in Television, Honorary Life Member, Presidents Award, and others.
The DGA Awards ceremony is held near the end of the annual awards season. Like most other award ceremonies in the US film and television industry, the DGA Awards are held in Los Angeles, California.
Photo: dga.org
