DGA Sues MGM Over Pension Payment Scheme

The Directors Guild of America (DGA) initiated a lawsuit against MGM on Friday, alleging the studio engaged in a scheme to devalue licensing agreements with its streaming service, MGM+ (formerly Epix). The union contends that MGM deliberately entered into below-market licensing arrangements.

This strategy, according to the DGA, allowed MGM to report artificially low revenue figures. Consequently, the studio allegedly reduced its pension contributions to the DGA's Pension Plan, shortchanging the benefits owed to represented employees.

The DGA claims that MGM's self-dealing arrangement with Epix/MGM+ was used to shirk pension obligations. The union's Pension Plan reportedly discovered these underpayments years after receiving understated contributions, and still lacks full information on the extent of the shortfalls.

MGM is accused of intentionally licensing its own films to Epix at reduced rates. Epix then allegedly sublicensed these assets to other platforms like Netflix and Paramount+, failing to report this subsequent revenue to the DGA. The close relationship between MGM and Epix is cited as a factor enabling this.

Attempts by the DGA to audit MGM's pension contributions spanning from April 2010 to June 2022 were allegedly met with MGM's failure to provide requested records. An audit firm, NKSF, also reportedly found MGM failed to report an additional $540,426 in potential pension contributions in February 2026.

The DGA is seeking an order for MGM to pay all unpaid pension contributions, along with attorney's fees and interest. MGM representatives have not yet commented on the lawsuit.