SAG-AFTRA Election Underway: Fran Drescher To Face Maya Gilbert-Dunbar For President; Joely Fisher And Peter Antico Vie For Secretary-Treasurer

The power of a single vote was on full display yesterday in Nashville, where actor and stuntman Bill “Bilbro” Yarbrough defeated his nearest rival by a single vote to win a seat on the guild’s national board of directors.

SAG-AFTRA has revealed more thinking behind its interim agreements, with leadership saying the initiative is “designed to undermine the production slates and timing of the AMPTP companies and ensure that they come back to the table”.

This is Day 94 of the WGA strike and Day 21 of the SAG-AFTRA strike

Joe Otterson TV Reporter SAG-AFTRA national president Fran Drescher stopped off at multiple picket lines in New York on Thursday to rally the members of the guild as their strike continues. “I just want to say I am so grateful for your enthusiasm and your commitment to this strike,” Drescher told the pickets outside HBO’s New York offices. “It means everything.

In the wake of yesterday’s upbeat news that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and the WGA are heading back for talks this Friday, SAG-AFTRA’s Duncan Crabtree-Ireland says that as far as actors go, it’s still crickets from the producers.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher again took aim at the heads of the film and television conglomerates, calling them “greed-driven and disrespectful” and their corporate culture “maniacal” in remarks Tuesday at a rally outside New York City Hall. 

While Viola Davis’ upcoming movie G20 reached a temporary agreement with SAG-AFTRA to continue filming, she is taking a step back amid the ongoing union strike.

UPDATED with video: Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director and chief negotiator, blasted the AMPTP at a strike rally Tuesday in Times Square, saying that the companies’ response to the guild’s proposals before contract talks broke off and the actors’ strike began 12 days ago was “No. No. No.”

Hollywood is mourning the loss of Tony Bennett. The singer who successfully led a decades-long career and captivated audiences with "I Left My Heart In San Francisco," died Friday.The star was 96, just two weeks short of his birthday. Publicist Sylvia Weiner confirmed Bennett’s death to The Associated Press, saying he passed away in his hometown of New York.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor There was a large crowd in the room when SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood’s major studios and streamers formally began contract bargaining negotiations on June 7. About 80 participants from both the labor and management sides gathered at the Sherman Oaks headquarters of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers for the first day of what everyone knew would be a difficult negotiation for the performers union, which has been on strike since July 13. One big presence in the negotiations process who was not there in person on Day One was Fran Drescher, president of SAG-AFTRA. But Drescher had no trouble making herself heard that day. She addressed the gathering via video conference call from Paris – and she definitely got management’s attention.

Fran Drescher has come a long way since playing the “flashy girl from Flushing” on The Nanny.

EXCLUSIVE: The Working Families Party is the latest organization to show support to striking writers and actors with a message for the studios.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) seized on the SAG-AFTRA strike in an online conversation with President Fran Drescher on Tuesday evening, as they both bashed Bob Iger and other CEOs, and made the case for why the actors’ walkout should be of concern of all workers.

The biggest names in Hollywood are showing their support for the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike by joining their fellow union members on the picket lines.

Devon Sawa is sharing an alleged story that is in solidarity with the SAG-AFTRA strike.

EXCLUSIVE: SAG-AFTRA is on strike, but not all members of the union won’t be working.

Kimiko Glenn is speaking out amid the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Mandy Moore and her former This Is Us costars will always be family — and are sticking together no matter what.

Disney CEO Bob Iger recently sat down with CNBC for an interview during which he shared his views on the SAG-AFTRA strike.

After AMPTP called their AI proposal to SAG-AFTRA yesterday “groundbreaking”, the actors’ union National Executive Director and chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, still begs to differ.