Taylor Hackford: Elected president of Directors Guild

Taylor Hackford: Elected president of Directors Guild

Academy Award-winning American film director, Taylor Hackford, has been elected president of the Directors Guild of America on Saturday, replacing Michael Apted.

Taylor Hackford, a veteran film director, has been chosen president during the guild's biennial national convention at Directors Guild headquarters in Hollywood. The directors re-elected Steven Soderbergh as national vice president and Gilbert Cates, a former DGA president, as secretary-treasurer.

As a director, Hackford's credits include "Teenage Father", "Ray", "An Officer and a Gentleman", "White Nights", "Against All Odds", "The Devil's Advocate", "Everybody's All-American", "Dolores Claiborne" and "Proof of Life".

Taylor Hackford was nominated for Oscar for "Ray" in 2005. His "Teenage Father" own an Oscar for Best Short Film, Live Action in 1979.

In 2007, Hackford was honored by the Guild with the Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award for extraordinary service to the DGA and its membership.

Hackford said, "I'm extraordinarily proud of what the DGA has accomplished and I hope to continue that great legacy of leadership at the Guild".

With new-media considerations dominating the previous round's contentious debates, that next round most likely will unfold as a battle over the digital future and how Hollywood's creative community should be compensated as content migrates to the Web.

The new president said that the Guild's top legislative priority will be protecting the work of its members in this new digital age.

The president als said, "We have to be aware of the challenges we're facing in protecting our work on the Internet. What's euphemistically called 'Internet piracy,' I choose to call by its true name, 'Internet theft.' It threatens the future of our economic lives: our employment, residuals and pension and health plans. Solutions won't come easy, but they must be found, if we are going to survive as professional filmmakers".

Apted, who served three consecutive two-year terms after he was elected, said, "The guild will be in extremely capable hands with Taylor, who has already served in different capacities for years".