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Further evidence has emerged that Hollywood has made little progress in hiring women and minorities to work on prime-time television shows. A survey conducted by the Directors Guild of America of more than 2,600 television episodes from 170 scripted TV series for the 2010-11 season found that white males directed 77% of all episodes, and white females directed 11% of all episodes. Minority males directed 11% all episodes and minority females directed just 1% of the shows, according to the DGA survey.

Further evidence has emerged that Hollywood has made little progress in hiring women and minorities to work on prime-time television shows. A survey conducted by the Directors Guild of America of more than 2,600 television episodes from 170 scripted TV series for the 2010-11 season found that white males directed 77% of all episodes, and white females directed 11% of all episodes. Minority males directed 11% all episodes and minority females directed just 1% of the shows, according to the DGA survey.

U.S. District Judge Pamela Ann Rymer withheld a key decision Tuesday on a class-action suit filed by the Directors Guild of America and nine individuals against Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures Industries Inc. The suit charges that the studios practice discrimination against women and minorities as directors and in related job categories. The action came after 90 minutes of oral argument over "class certification," a question that must be resolved before such a suit can go to trial.

Tom Hooper made a movie about giving speeches on a grand stage ? and then he got to make one himself. The 38-year-old British filmmaker took home the best director prize at the Oscars on Sunday night for "The King's Speech," a historical drama about how King George VI overcame a debilitating stutter to rally the British Empire on the eve of World War II. The movie is only Hooper's second major theatrical feature, after his soccer picture "The Damned...

Max Schindler is a director in Washington for NBC's "Today" show. He didn't go to work Tuesday. But other NBC staff directors did, thanks to successful haggling of which he was a part here. With 30 minutes to go before a scheduled 6 a.m. (EDT) strike against NBC, his Directors Guild of America negotiating team reached a tentative contract with NBC covering the network's staff directors, associate directors and others. "I'm really tired, feel like I've been run over by a tank," he wryly observed.

The credit might read "A Steven Spielberg Film," "An Oliver Stone Movie" or "A Martin Scorsese Picture." Spike Lee has his own unique spin: "A Spike Lee Joint." Even lesser-known directors fresh out of film school or plucked from the ranks of TV commercials have been known to take one when making their first feature-length films. It's called a possessory credit, and many directors are given one in addition to their basic "Directed by" credit.

This concerns Michael Cieply's story about a "secret pact" between the studios and the Directors Guild of America, supposedly made during the 1987 DGA negotiations and under which the studios supposedly pledged not to pay more to any other Hollywood union for television reruns than what the DGA got. (" 'Secret Pact' Stirs Up a Dispute," July 22) As the DGA's executive director, the principal spokesman and chief negotiator in all of DGA's collective bargaining negotiations, I can tell you categorically that there was no such discussion, much less pledge or agreement.

The Directors Guild of America has settled a 2006 lawsuit alleging that the union was improperly withholding so-called foreign levies on behalf of non-DGA members. The special taxes are levied by foreign governments to compensate writers and directors for the reuse of their work. The DGA agreed to have an accounting firm review its foreign levies program, which has distributed about $48 million in levies to guild members and more than $4.9 million to non-DGA members, the union said.

Regarding "Cagney & Lacey" executive producer Barney Rosenzweig's opinions about the Directors Guild of America ("Down to the Wire on Directors' Drama," by Diane Haithman, July 2): Perhaps Rosenzweig might examine his own hubris, as he accuses DGA of crossing "every picket line in this community." Would he truly have supported--even if it meant missing an air date or two--a director working on his show whose conscience dictated that he not cross a picket line? I would expect, more likely, that Rosenzweig would have reached for the phone to inform the DGA of a breach of contract by the director and by the Directors Guild, if they supported such action.

In Howard Rosenberg's column about the wonderful Nancy Marchand, he intimates that the four Emmys Nan won for playing Mrs. Pynchon on "Lou Grant" somehow didn't measure up to her work as Livia on "The Sopranos" ("Excellence, From 'Marty' to the Mafia," June 21). In his words, "TV drama was not nearly as good as it is today, and meaty roles for women were rare." This sort of denigrates the worthiness of "Lou Grant," of which those of us who worked on it are obviously rather proud: It was nominated for 56 Emmys and won 13, as well as being awarded the Peabody Award, three DGA awards and two Writers Guild awards.

HBO led the pack with 14 nominations in the Directors Guild of America's awards for television and commercials for 2010, including nods for "Boardwalk Empire," "Entourage," "The Pacific," "Temple Grandin," "You Don't Know Jack" and Bill Maher's "But I'm Not Wrong. " DGA President Taylor Hackford announced the nominations Tuesday. Nominations for dramatic series included ABC's "Lost" (ignored by the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards) and AMC's "The Walking Dead" and "Mad Men," and comedy nods went to ABC's "Modern Family," NBC's "30 Rock" and Fox's "Glee.

The odds of a woman repeating as best director at the Oscars again this year got a lot slimmer on Monday as the Directors Guild of America announced its nominees for outstanding achievement in a feature film. The DGA nominations, very often a bellwether for the Academy Awards' best director nominees, selected five men for its shortlist: Darren Aronofsky, David Fincher, Tom Hooper, Christopher Nolan and David O. Russell. In a groundbreaking move last year, the DGA nominated ? and gave its award to ?

When the City of Lights, City of Angels French film festival began 13 years ago, about 2,000 Francophiles flocked to see the latest in Gallic cinema. The festival has grown since then -- last year saw 15,000 attendees -- and this year, its 14th, the programming promises to be among the most eclectic it has ever seen. "You have art-house style films but also very popular, very entertaining films.

Two sci-fi blockbusters and a raunchy box office hit comedy were nominated Monday for the Writers Guild of America Award. James Cameron, who earned a Directors Guild of America nomination last week, received a WGA nod in the original screenplay category for the sci-fi fantasy phenomenon "Avatar," which so far has made $1.3 billion worldwide. And Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman picked up a nomination in the adapted screenplay category for the acclaimed "Star Trek" reboot based on the original Gene Roddenberry series.

"The Hurt Locker" continues to shock and awe this award season. The gripping Iraq war drama chronicling the lives of a bomb defusing unit has won best film and director for Kathryn Bigelow from the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn., New York Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics. On Thursday, the 58-year-old Bigelow was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award for outstanding directorial achievement in feature film. Bigelow is only the seventh female director to be nominated for the top DGA Award.

Some editions of The Times did not carry this article Sunday. The Directors Guild of America on Saturday named Danny Boyle the best director of 2008 for "Slumdog Millionaire." It's the first guild win for the 52-year-old British director. Boyle has won critics' groups honors, as well as the Golden Globe, Critics' Choice and the British Independent Film Award, for "Slumdog Millionaire."

"This is awesome, when you think of all those who have come before me," 77-year-old director Elia Kazan said, after being presented with the Directors Guild of America's coveted D.W. Griffith Award for career achievement Saturday night. Kazan, the 19th Griffith Award winner since 1953, accepted the award at a ceremony held here for East Coast members of the DGA. Most of the 1986 DGA winners were in Los Angeles, attending a simultaneous dinner at the Sheraton Premiere Hotel.

Jud Taylor, 76, a past president of the Directors Guild of America who was well known for directing television movies, died Wednesday in New York City after a long illness. Taylor, a former actor who joined the guild in 1964, won the DGA's Outstanding Directorial Achievement Award for the 1987 TV movie "Foxfire." He also received an Emmy nomination for directing the 1977 TV movie "Tail Gunner Joe." Other directing credits include the TV movies "The Old Man and the Sea," "Out of Darkness," "A Question of Honor" and "Flesh & Blood," as well as episodes of TV series, including "Star Trek" and "The Fugitive."

The Directors Guild of America named Danny Boyle the best director of 2008 for "Slumdog Millionaire" on Saturday night. It's the first guild win for the 52-year-old British director. Boyle has won critics' groups honors, as well as the Golden Globe, Critics Choice and the British Independent Film Award for "Slumdog Millionaire."

The Directors Guild of America announced its nominees Friday for achievement in television, documentaries and commercials for 2008. The winners will be announced Jan. 31 at the 61st annual DGA Awards dinner. Nominees for the TV movie and miniseries category are Bob Balaban for "Bernard and Doris," Tom Hooper for "John Adams," Kenny Leon for "A Raisin in the Sun," Jay Roach for "Recount" and Mikael Solomon for "The Andromeda Strain." Dramatic series nominees are Dan Attias for "The Wire" ("Transitions" episode)