Angelique Jackson
SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher had a sobering message for Hollywood’s major studios as she joined a WGA picket outside Paramount Pictures Monday afternoon.
“They feel this strike is a strike for everyone in the industry,” Drescher said of SAG-AFTRA members and WGA industrial action.
Drescher, who was elected president of SAG-AFTRA in September 2021, marched arm-in-arm with Writers Guild of America West Chair Meredith Stiehm in a show of solidarity, joining a coalition of a few hundred members from each guild who Paramount pickets were picking at 9 am PT as the second week of the WGA strike began.
“It’s important that we support our sister unions in the entertainment industry,” Drescher told Variety, noting that in her role as SAG-AFTRA President she is both a union leader and a WGA member. “We have to be in solidarity with them. This is the only way the workforce can effectively stand up for themselves and be recognized for our needs,” said Drescher.
There is a real kinship between the guilds, as evidenced by the heavy participation of SAG-AFTRA members in WGA pickets since the strike began on May 2nd. Drescher described the mood at her general meeting as “very supportive” of the strike effort. SAG-AFTRA will begin its own contract talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on June 7th.
The WGA walkout “compels the AMPTP to recognize that there are needs that need to be recognized and entertainment industry contributors that need to be honored,” Drescher said. “I hope that by June 7th we will continue to plan our negotiations very methodically and strategically. God willing, we won’t get to that point. Every union has different questions and needs. And while we support each of them, every negotiation is different.”
Drescher wasn’t too specific about what she expects from her union’s negotiations. In broad terms, Drescher said that SAG-AFTRA’s primary focus is “to restructure the contract to stay true to the current business model.”
(Pictured: SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher and WGA West President Meredith Stiehm outside of Paramount Pictures)