SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher is keen to continue negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), who are allegedly dragging their heels.
“I wish we would be talking to the other side,” Drescher, 65, said during a Wednesday, July 19, appearance on CBS Mornings. “We said we’d start talking to them immediately, but they’re punishing us. They don’t want to talk to us, so, oh well, you know, they complained [the strike] is going to shut down the business but they don’t come to the table.”
The Nanny alum, who was elected president of the acting union in 2021, further noted that there’s been zero communication with the AMPTP. “I think stonewalling is their preferred technique,” Drescher quipped. “That’s what we are up against.”
Drescher announced on Thursday, July 13, that the SAG-AFTRA board had authorized a strike after the AMPTP — on behalf of the Hollywood film studios — did not agree to any of SAG’s terms, regarding fair residual wages, the use of artificial intelligence and more.
“I went in thinking that we would be able to avert a strike. The gravity of this move is not lost on me,” Drescher said in a press conference at the time. “It’s a very serious thing that impacts thousands, if not millions of people all across this country and around the world. Not only members of this union but people who work in other industries that service the people that work in this industry. … We had no choice. We are the victims here. We are being victimized by a very greedy entity.”
Drescher and many actors — including the likes of Olivia Wilde, Nina Dobrev, Kevin Bacon and Mandy Moore — joined the picket lines earlier this week in support.
The AMPTP noted in a statement of its own last week that they were “deeply disappointed that SAG-AFTRA has decided to walk away from negotiations” and start striking.
“Why would we go on strike if we were offered such an incredible deal? It doesn’t make sense,” Drescher said on Wednesday. “We’re not making $78,000 a day like the CEOs of these companies. So, it’s insulting for them to imply that we’re being kind of spoiled brats when people are journeymen, working people that just want to pay the rent and put food on the table.”
She continued: “They want to squeeze blood from a rock because all they’re interested in is showing their shareholders how much money they’re making and not losing, and where do they go? To the performer, who is the very foundation of their whole business model. It’s very strange and I just don’t understand why people don’t do the right thing.”
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