Fran Drescher’s SAG Speech: ‘The Jig Is Up’ On ‘Greedy’ Studio CEOs

After news that actors would strike at midnight in solidarity with their writer comrades, union president Fran Drescher’s SAG speech at the press conference on July 13 2023 was impassioned and defiant.

The Nanny star, who is the head of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television (SAG-AFTRA), announced that negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) had broken down over several issues. The rate of TV work has been significantly impacted by a streaming-focused industry. Where the traditional broadcast model featured up to 26 episodes a season, streaming has cut that down to eight, maybe 10 (or in The Idol‘s case, five). This means actors are working far less on each job and tend to have larger gaps between employment, which means it’s harder to make a steady living. Performers argue they should get in residuals (like royalties) from the streaming platforms and higher compensation if the movie or series they’re in is a hit with viewers.

Much like the writer’s strike, the use of artificial intelligence was also a topic of tension: Actors say they don’t want to be replaced by computer-generated images; they want control over where and how their likenesses are used. To be clear, the strike doesn’t mean they can’t act at all, they just can’t work for companies that are members of the AMPTP—that includes Amazon, Apple, Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount, Sony and Warner Bros. Discovery. They also can’t promote work for said companies, either. More on that later.

“We had no choice. We are the victims here,” Drescher said. “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.”

In rebuttal, the AMPTP said in a statement: “This is the Union’s choice, not ours. Rather than continuing to negotiate, SAG-AFTRA has put us on a course that will deepen the financial hardship for thousands who depend on the industry for their livelihoods.”

The writers’ strike, an ongoing dispute between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the AMPTP has been holding much of production at a standstill since May 2, 2023, and is the largest disruption to American film and television since the COVID-19 pandemic. They are protesting pay cuts, pay disparity, and the use of AI tools like ChatGPT as a replacement for writers rather than being used for research and facilitating script ideas. With this amalgamation of unions, it represents the biggest industry walkout in 40 years, bringing the $134 billion American movie and television business to a halt. But you should read Fran Drescher’s speech in full because it perfectly outlines where she and her cohorts are coming from.

Fran Drescher’s SAG speech

Here is Fran Drescher’s SAG speech in full, said during a press conference on July 13, 2023.

“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 St 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 that 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 St than you and your family.

Most of Americans don’t have more than 500 dollars. 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 stripe 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 wait 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.”

SAG-AFTRA, represents 160,000 television and movie actors, while the WGA represents more than 16,000 film, TV, broadcast and news media writers. It’s the first time in 43 years that the SAG-AFTRA has called for a strike since 1980, and it would be the first in 60 years that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA have joined forces.

In 1960, a dispute between the WGA and the Alliance of Television Film Producers resulted in a strike lasting 148 days, from January 16 to June 12, 1960, and ended with improved rights and pensions for scriptwriters, as well as five percent of their net income from television-airing movies released before 1960. During this time, the SAG participated in multiple strikes halting eight major productions including Elizabeth Taylor’s Butterfield 8, Gina Lollobrigida’s Go Naked in the World, Jack Lemmon’s The Wackiest Ship in the Army and Marilyn Monroe’s Let’s Make Love.

How much do actors really make?

While it might appear that being a Hollywood actor is a position of privilege, wealth and fame are limited to the very few. According to ZipRecruiter, actors in 2023 make on average $68,989 a year, but unless they’re employed regularly on a television show, actors tend to work on a project-by-project basis, which means they may not work at all for some years.

A 2019 study by Queen Mary University of London referred to surveys that showed only two percent of actors make a living from the profession and that 90 percent are out of work at any one time. To be eligible for a SAG-AFTRA health insurance policy, you must meet the yearly $26,470 threshold. But according to Shaan Sharma, an actor and SAG-AFTRA board member, just 12.7 percent of SAG-AFTRA members qualify for the union’s health plan.

What happened at the Oppenheimer premiere?

Earlier that day, the cast of Christopher Nolan’s wartime epic Oppenheimer, which is about the Manhattan Project and the development of the atomic bomb, left the UK premiere prematurely in anticipation of the strike. “We have to acknowledge [that] you’ve seen them here earlier on the red carpet,” Nolan told CNN on the red carpet, adding “Unfortunately they’re off to write their picket signs for what we believe to be an imminent strike by SAG.”

A-list stars included Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh and Robert Downey Jr., among other Oppenheimer cast members. Blunt had acknowledged the possibility of a walk-out earlier on the red carpet, telling Deadline: “And if they call [the strike], we’ll be leaving together as a cast in unity with everyone,” Blunt said, adding, “We are gonna have to. So we will see what happens. Right now, it’s the joy to be together.”

Another blockbuster opening on the same day, July 21, the cast of Barbie may have also made their last red-carpet appearance. Star Margot Robbie told Sky News she would “absolutely” join her fellow union members in a strike. “I very much am in support of all the unions and I’m a part of SAG, so I would absolutely stand by them,” she said.

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