'The Jig is Up': Emotions High as Actors Strike at Midnight
Hours after Bob Iger's remarks, Fran Drescher fumed: 'We are being victimized by a very greedy entity'
What a day.
After negotiations between AMPTP and SAG-AFTRA on a new three-year contract broke down in the middle of the night, Hollywood awoke to learn of Bob Iger’s stunning remarks, delivered from Sun Valley on CNBC, about the AMPTP’s disputes with WGA and now SAG.
“It’s very disturbing to me,” said Iger. “We’ve talked about disruptive forces on this business and all the challenges we’re facing, the recovery from Covid which is ongoing, it’s not completely back. This is the worst time in the world to add to that disruption.”
Cut to six or seven hours later, and it’s clear — this is getting personal between the CEOs and union brass. An impassioned speech from SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher today kicked off the performers strike, which begins at midnight tonight and marks the union’s first TV/theatrical work stoppage since 1980.
“We had no choice. We are the victims here. We are being victimized by a very greedy entity,” said a fiery and emotion-filled Drescher at the presser. “I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us.”
“I cannot believe it, quite frankly, how far apart we are on so many things,” she continued. “How they plead poverty that they’re losing money left and right, when [they’re] giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history at this very moment.”
The AMPTP countered with a statement, released while Drescher and chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland were still speaking at the podium, that said it had “offered historic pay and residual increases, substantially higher caps on pension and health contributions, audition protections, shortened series option periods, and a groundbreaking AI proposal that protects actors’ digital likenesses for SAG-AFTRA members.”
When asked about it during the presser, Crabtree-Ireland retorted that “this ‘groundbreaking’ AI proposal that they gave us yesterday… They proposed that our background performers should be able to be scanned and paid for one day’s pay and their companies should own that scan, their image, their likeness, and to be able to use it for the rest of eternity in any project they want with no consent and no compensation. So if you think that’s a groundbreaking proposal I suggest you think again.”
Among the items in the AMPTP’s proposals were:
A 76 percent increase in high-budget SVOD foreign residuals
“Substantial” increases to the pension and health plan caps
Pay increases for background actors
Fixed residuals for stunt coordinators
Shorter option periods for series regulars at certain salary levels
The shift from linear to streaming over the last decade has thoroughly disrupted the industry, impacting traditional compensation models, TV development cycles and consumer viewing habits.
“The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI,” said Drescher during her remarks. “We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines and big business who cares more about Wall Street than you or your family. Most of Americans don’t have more than $500 in an emergency. This is a very big deal and it weighed heavy on us, but at some point you have to say, ‘No, we’re not going to take this anymore.’ You people are crazy.”
Under the strike order rules, SAG-AFTRA members must not participate in on-camera work, including acting, singing, dancing, puppeteering or motion capture, as well as off-camera work such as voice-acting, ADR/looping, stunt coordinating and narration. Background work (stand-in, body double, camera tests, auditions) and publicity for studio projects under the current TV/theatrical contracts must also be withheld.
Meanwhile, as the Writers Guild of America strike finishes Day 73, today’s labor action from SAG-AFTRA creates the first “double strike” — in which actors are concurrently striking alongside writers — since 1960, when then-actor Ronald Reagan led the Screen Actors Guild.
“We have massive systemic and structural issues to address,” Handmaid’s Tale co-showrunner and WGA negotiating committee member Yahlin Chang tells me. “The last time writers and actors struck together we won residuals, pension and health — all necessary for a sustainable middle-class career as a creative in Hollywood. Actors have been on our lines since the first day of picketing — they get it. Writers and actors have always created great things together, and now we’ve been called upon to change Hollywood for the better and save both our professions.”
As Crabtree-Ireland noted during the Q&A, the 1960 strike led to the creation of the performers’ health plan, pension plan and residual payments.
The soon-to-be double Hollywood strike comes as other labor movements pick up the pace in Southern California, from the recent LAUSD workers strike to the current hotel workers work stoppage. Well-paid CEOs like Iger and Warner Bros. Discovery’s David Zaslav are under increasing scrutiny as workers follow the money and examine where a company’s profits appear to land.
“What are we doing — moving around furniture on the Titanic? It’s crazy,” said Drescher at the presser. “So the jig is up, AMPTP. We stand tall. You have to wake up and smell the coffee… You share the wealth because you cannot exist without us.”
Watch the full SAG-AFTRA press conference below (starts at 13:05):
Transcript of Drescher’s speech (16:13):
“Thank you everybody for coming to this press conference today. It’s really important that this negotiation be covered, because the eyes of the world, and particularly the eyes of labor, are upon us. What happens here is important because what’s happening to us is happening across all fields of labor, by means of when employers make Wall Street and greed their priority and they forget about the essential contributors that make the machine run.
We have a problem, and we are experiencing that right at this moment. This is a very seminal hour for us. I went in in earnest thinking that we would be able to avert a strike. The gravity of this move is not lost on me, or our negotiating committee, or our board members who have voted unanimously to proceed with a strike. 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.
And so it came with great sadness that we came to this crossroads. But we had no choice. We are the victims here. We are being victimized by a very greedy entity. I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us. I cannot believe it, quite frankly: How far apart we are on so many things. How they plead poverty, that they’re losing money left and right when giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It is disgusting. Shame on them.
They stand on the wrong side of history at this very moment. We stand in solidarity, in unprecedented unity. Our union and our sister unions and the unions around the world are standing by us, as well as other labor unions. Because at some point, the jig is up. You cannot keep being dwindled and marginalized and disrespected and dishonored. The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI.
This is a moment of history and is a moment of truth. If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble. We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines and big business who cares more about Wall Street than you and your family. Most of Americans don’t have more than $500 in an emergency. This is a very big deal, and it weighed heavy on us. But at some point you have to say, ‘No, we’re not going to take this anymore. You people are crazy. What are you doing? Why are you doing this?’
Privately, they all say we’re the center of the wheel. Everybody else tinkers around our artistry, but actions speak louder than words, and there was nothing there. It was insulting. So we came together in strength and solidarity and unity with the largest strike authorization vote in our union’s history. And we made the hard decision that we tell you as we stand before you today. This is major. It’s really serious and it’s going to impact every single person that is in labor. We are fortunate enough to be in a country right now that happens to be labor-friendly, and yet we were facing opposition that was so labor-unfriendly, so tone deaf to what we are saying.
You cannot change the business model as much as it has changed and not expect the contract to change too. We’re not going to keep doing incremental changes on a contract that no longer honors what is happening right now with this business model that was foisted upon us. What are we doing… moving around furniture on the Titanic? It’s crazy. So the jig is up, AMPTP. We stand tall. You have to wake up and smell the coffee. We are labor and we stand tall and we demand respect and to be honored for our contribution. You share the wealth because you cannot exist without us. Thank you.
In The Ankler: a Call for Impeachment!
Richard Rushfield weighs in on the gravity of the situation that Hollywood awoke to, and points the finger at the top:
Any CEO out there who wants to be the hero of the moment, the floor is yours.
Step right up and lead us out of this. And now would be a good time. For the rest of you, it's time for us to really start asking… what good are you? Beyond your hopes for a slight uptick in EBITDA in the next quarter, for the historic and noble product of mass entertainment, which employs hundreds of thousands around the world, really, what good are you? You had one job: make movies and TV shows that entertain people around the world. And now that is at a likely standstill.
He continues:
They still, through all of this, had the power to bulldoze things to a resolution — if they had a reasonable offer to put on the table. And if they had tried every reasonable option and failed — they could have made a public case of what their vision was for relations between studios and craftspeople in their business, and how it created a stable world for all.
Instead, they sat tight — hid under their desks (our poobahs' signature move) – and waited for the guild, now guilds, to crack.
Head to The Ankler for the full story, for paid subscribers only.
Today in Strike News
“This is basically like, the celebrity factory has shut down,” The Ankler’s Janice Min tells Vanity Fair in a report on the far-reaching consequences a double-strike will have throughout the industry and beyond. “If this goes on for a long time, you will feel it across the whole internet.” (Vanity Fair)
Two HBO productions will continue, as House of the Dragon and Industry both film in the U.K., where actors are contracted under Equity, SAG-AFTRA’s U.K.-based sister union. In a statement, Equity affirmed that it would be considered a breach of contract for any performer to refuse to cross a picket line or join the strike, though the guild referred to the U.K. laws enforcing that as “draconian” and a “national disgrace.” (The Wrap)
Many international productions are shutting down. The Alien series adaptation, Gladiator 2, and The White Lotus season three are all slated to pause pre-production or filming due to their employment of SAG-AFTRA members. (Variety)
The actors strike will not prevent Broadway productions from continuing, with those in SAG-AFTRA being able to utilize their dual membership with the Actors’ Equity Association. (Deadline)
The actors strike is throwing a wrench in TIFF, Venice, and other such film festivals, with SAG-AFTRA members not able to promote their projects. “We will continue planning for this year’s festival with the hope of a swift resolution in the coming weeks,” a TIFF spokesperson said in a statement. (The Hollywood Reporter)
The cast of Oppenheimer – which includes stars Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, and Robert Downey, Jr. – left the film’s U.K. premiere early and went out to dinner as the SAG-AFTRA strike began. (Deadline)
TV writer Jason Blackman put together a couple of strike-inspired baking recipes — each easy to make on a budget — that he shared with LA Mag. (Los Angeles Magazine)
Picket Sign of the Day
Spotted outside SAG-AFTRA HQ before today’s press conference.
Additional reporting by Matthew Frank.
Richard, thank you for being literally the only remotely fair handed source for us in this terrible time. We have seen Deadline mortify itself by regurgitating studio talking points so hateful that they are immediately recanted. We have seen supposedly white glove media Variety and Hollywood Reporter repeat the same bullshit. We all know they are nothing but trade publications that flatter the pretentions of this town’s ruling class. We don’t take them seriously. And no one in this town does either.
The last strike minter Nikki as an authority and made the trades irrelevant. With your continued even handed reporting, I hope these strikes do the same for you. Thank you.