Directors Guild of America elects Thomas Schlamme as president

Thomas Schlamme is the new president of the Directors Guild of America after an election held Saturday at the guild’s Los Angeles headquarters.

The veteran TV director, whose credits include NBC’s “The West Wing,” will succeed Paris Barclay, who has served as the guild’s president since 2013.

Schlamme has held several leadership positions at the DGA since joining its national board in 2005. He most recently served as third vice president and before that as fifth vice president. He also was co-chairman of the guild’s negotiating committee in 2014 and again this year.

The vote on Saturday was conducted by 147 delegates representing the DGA’s more than 17,000 members. The guild didn’t release the voting tally. DGA presidents hold two-year terms.

“It is a tremendous honor to be chosen by my peers to lead our guild, and I greatly look forward to taking on the challenges facing our membership and industry,” Schlamme said in a statement.

Vincent Misiano was elected national vice president, and Michael Apted, a previous DGA president, was reelected as secretary-treasurer.

Betty Thomas takes the first vice president spot while Brooke Kennedy becomes second vice president. Jon Favreau and Ron Howard take the third and fourth vice president jobs, respectively.

Schlamme has won nine Emmy Awards and three DGA awards during his lengthy career. In addition to “The West Wing,” he was instrumental in the creation of two other Aaron Sorkin TV series — “Sports Night” and “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.”

His latest project is “Snowfall,” a dramatic series about the crack epidemic in L.A. during the 1980s, which is set to debut on FX next month.

The DGA ratified a new contract with the Hollywood studios in January. The three-year agreement includes a significant boost in residual payments from streaming video services as well as increased wages.

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