Fran Drescher Decries “Low-Level” Critics Of SAG-AFTRA Deal; Full Contract May Not Be Available Before Ratification Vote Finishes

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor SAG-AFTRA has released the full 128-page contract that ended the actors strike on Nov. 8, with union leaders urging members to vote yes on the deal by the Dec. 5 ratification deadline.

Over two weeks after SAG-AFTRA reached a deal with the studios and ended their nearly four-month long strike, the actors guild has just released the full text of the tentative agreement.

For a Friday that is time for reflection and giving thanks, host Billy Ray and returning original host Todd Garner welcomes WGA president Meredith Stiehm and SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher. They talk with the guys about the lessons learned from the long and brutal six month strike that is finally and mercifully over. The guild leaders advise IATSE and Teamsters negotiators what to expect when their deals expire next July. They also review a negotiation that in their minds never had to turn into such a protracted process. The gains made by their guilds could have been achieved if only the signatories had sent in the CEOs earlier to the bargaining table, and stopped trying to work from a contract and negotiating moves that were hopelessly outdated in the streaming age. Coming in for particular criticism here is AMPTP negotiator Carol Lombardini. After Billy Ray recalled watching Lombardini cancel catering and then announce that the WGA walked away from the table in 2017, Stiehm said this time the head negotiator for studios responded to rejection of an offer by the WGA negotiating committee by presenting the contract to membership and releasing the full offer to the media. Ray and Garner will do one more Strike Talk by the way, and to the editors, that is another thing to give thanks for.

Justine Bateman has spent the better part of this year warning Hollywood about the potential consequences of artificial intelligence in film and TV, even before the topic became a major part of contract negotiations for both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA.

Producers must give actors at least 48 hours to prepare a self-tape — longer if it’s before a weekend – and not assign more than eight pages to read for the first audition, according to a summary of SAG-AFTRA’s potential three-year contract.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher on Monday scolded “naysayers” and “contrarians” who have criticized the union’s new contract. Drescher defended the agreement during a Zoom meeting for SAG-AFTRA members on Monday morning. “Sadly there have been some naysayers who have exploited this momentum of ours,” Drescher said, appearing in a bathrobe from her home.

Less than 48 hours before SAG-AFTRA members begin voting on ratifying their new deal with the studios, the actors guild has released an extensive summary of the potential three-year contract.

Following today’s vote by the majority of SAG-AFTRA‘s National Board to approve the tentative agreement reached with studio CEOs and the AMPTP earlier this week, the actor’s guild has released more details of the deal.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher and National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland on Friday laid out how the actors’ 118-day strike was ended and their thoughts on the deal with the AMPTP.

SAG-AFTRA national board approved its new contract with the major studios with an 86% approval vote, sending it to membership for ratification. The official approval was announced by the guild at a press conference Friday afternoon, which finally got started at around 3:20 p.m. after an 80-minute delay.

SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher is speaking out about the union’s new three-year contract with studios, putting an end to the actors strike that lasted 118 days.

The actors are set to vote on the tentative agreement with the studios after the SAG-AFTRA national board approved the deal.

In a full-circle moment, SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher is holding a press conference at 2 p.m. today in the James Cagney Boardroom of the guild’s Wilshire Boulevard headquarters, the same place that she fired up the troops with her strike-launching speech on July 13.

Fran Drescher, the union’s president, has not only secured tentatively a historic three-year deal with studios but also garnered praise from some of Hollywood’s biggest names. Among them, George Clooney who expressed sheer astonishment at the deal.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The SAG-AFTRA strike is over, and it only took four minutes and 46 seconds after the news broke to receive an interview pitch for an actor from a publicist. That’s because strategists and publicists for the top movies from studios and streamers have been sitting on their hands, waiting for their actors to promote their films that are in the conversation for Oscar attention.

The SAG-AFTRA strike is finally over after 118 days.

EXCLUSIVE: “We know that generations from now they’ll be talking about this seminal contract and reaping the benefits of it in the way that we have been for the last 65 years with a contract that was negotiated when Ronald Reagan was in my position,” says SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher of the new contract the actors guild made with the studios on Wednesday after 118 days on strike.

Ellise Shafer U.K. entertainment unions Bectu and Equity are celebrating the tentative agreement between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP that is set to end the longest actors strike in Hollywood history. In an announcement on Wednesday, SAG-AFTRA said that the 118-day strike would officially end on Thursday at 12:01 a.m.

EXCLUSIVE: Bob Iger finally had his wish come true today

Selome Hailu Hollywood may soon be back in business. SAG-AFTRA has reached a tentative deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). If ratified, the new contract would end the actors union’s historic 118-day strike.