SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher has been criticized at a tense moment in the union’s deal negotiations with major studios after taking a weekend trip to Italy to attend a promotional event for Dolce & Gabbana.
SAG-AFTRA emphasized that despite her international travels, Drescher is still in negotiations. A picture of Drescher posing with Kim Kardashian surfaced on social media via Kardashian’s Instagram account on Monday. That sparked heated reactions from actors, writers and other members of Hollywood’s creative community, which is in full swing this week as the union and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announce their plans at midnight PT on July 12 through midnight on July 12 PT must have a deadline to work out a new three-year contract. Unless an agreement is reached, the union is expected to begin its first industry-wide strike since 1980.
Unlike other elected union leaders, Drescher also chairs SAG-AFTRA’s contract negotiation committee. She has worked closely with Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s National Executive and Chief Negotiator, to set the agenda and demands at a time when the economy of the entertainment industry is rapidly changing.
SAG-AFTRA late Monday defended Drescher’s decision to take the short trip as part of her work as a longtime “brand ambassador” for the high-end Italian clothing line.
“President Drescher works as a brand ambassador for Dolce and Gabbana locally in Italy. The negotiating committee was fully aware of this obligation. She was in negotiations every day in person or via video conference. Managing a physically demanding schedule across three time zones, President Drescher oversees negotiations and works on-site every day, tending to the needs of her parents [Florida]. She is returning to the US and will be in LA tomorrow [July 11]and will continue to lead our negotiations,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement.
Tension has reigned in Hollywood’s creative scene since May 2, when the Writers Guild of America went on strike for the first time since 2007. The image of Drescher and Kardashian sparked a hornet’s nest among industry insiders, as Kardashian rose to fame as a reality TV star , recently broke into the scripting world with a role in FX’s “American Horror Story.” And that very show has been in the crosshairs of the WGA and its SAG-AFTRA supporters for being one of the few remaining in production in recent weeks after striking WGA members in New York and Los Angeles strategically forced the studios to Productions to close finished screenplays for filming. Striking writers accomplished this by picketing sound stages and locations to prevent Teamster and IATSE crew members from crossing to get to work.
Kardashian, meanwhile, has kept her social media millions up to date with her work on “AHS,” providing clear evidence the show continued in production after others were forced to cancel.
Drescher’s trip to Puglia in southern Italy also drew ridicule from the management side of Hollywood’s negotiating table. “How deaf can you be,” quipped an executive at an AMPTP member studio.