SGA President Announces Unanimous Strike, Calls Out Motion Pictures Studios
By Movieguide® Staff
Hollywood talent are officially on strike after negotiations between their union and major studios regarding a new labor deal crumbled.
SAG-AFTRA President and actor Fran Drescher recently gave a politicized televised speech, calling out motion picture studios for their greed and lack of consideration to all parties involved in the movie making process.
“It’s really important that this negotiation be covered because in the eyes of the world, and particularly the eyes of labor, are upon us,” Drescher opened her speech. “What happens here is important because what’s happening to us is happening across all fields of labor.”
“When employers make … greed their priority, they forget about the essential contributors that make the machine run. We have a problem,” she added.
Drescher also noted the weight of a strike, and how that impacts not only thousands of workers in the entertainment industry, but laborers around the world.
“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, our negotiating committee, or our board members, who have voted unanimously to proceed with a strike,” she said.
With the rise in popularity of streaming, AI and other new technologies, Hollywood’s old model of contracts with their talent are leaving many workers unfairly compensated, Drescher claimed.
“The entire business model has been changed by streaming, digital, AI. That is a moment of truth. If we don’t stand tall right now, we are all going to be in trouble,” she said. “We are all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines ….”
“You share the wealth, because you cannot exist without us,” she finished.
Actress Jessica Chastain responded: “Difficult things like contracts haven’t kept up with the innovations that have been made, resulting in huge inequality, people not able to earn a fair wage and support families. The industry has been so separated in terms of who is able to make a living and who isn’t. This can’t continue anymore. My heart breaks.”
Other talent came out in their support of Drescher’s address, including Josh Gad and Daniel Radcliffe.
“I feel proud to stand in solidarity with my fellow film community, like my second family. I love this community so much and I love the support within this community, and I’m hoping for a resolution soon,” Gad wrote in a tweet.
Movieguide® notes that there are several other aspects and positions other than that of SAG-AFTRA. On one hand, in the 1950s Dr. Baehr father was on the Board of Directors of AFTRA when they got the important residuals. On the other hand, former President Ronald Reagan stood against the extreme Marxist strike of his day which caused him to switch from Democrat to Republican and brave the strike to continue working. Also, lost in the conversation was the fact that several actors made over $10,000,000.00 last year.
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