SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher Fires Up New York Picket Lines: ‘There Is No Turning Back!’

SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America West are among more than 20 labor organizations lobbying for passage of a bill pending in the California legislature that would make striking workers in the state eligible for unemployment benefits, as they are in New York and New Jersey.

The New York Film and Television Union Coalition is praising a pair of identical bills pending in New York State that would “prohibit applicants to the Empire State film production credit from using artificial intelligence that would displace any natural person in their productions.”

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.

Stephen Amell hit the picket line in New York City this weekend to support the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.

SAG-AFTRA is rallying behind Bethenny Frankel.

SAG-AFTRA, which covers the hosts but not the contestants on reality TV competition shows, said today that it’s working “toward the protection of the reality performers” in an effort to end “the exploitative practices that have developed in this area” and “to engage in a new path to union coverage.”

told the Los Angeles Times that attempts to arrange a meeting with Netflix — to demand that members be compensated with the same residual model as American members of SAG-AFTRA — have gone unanswered for months.“One of [Netflix’s] first priorities when entering the local market should be to establish some channel of communication with groups like us,” the country’s answer to Fran Drescher said.“But there’s no answer at all.”Residuals have recently been in the news as American actors and writers striking for fair compensation post their often insultingly meager checks, ranging from a single penny to a few dollars. As opposed to the royalties paid in broadcasting, residuals must be paid in perpetuity to actors in the United States, based on how many times their films and shows are streamed.

Hollywood’s potential misuse of artificial intelligence is a “deadly cocktail” and a “poison” that needs to be strictly regulated, SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said in the guild’s latest strike podcast.

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

As the SAG-AFTRA strike enters its second month with no end in sight, joining the WGA strike that began in May, some of Hollywood’s biggest stars have been taking to picket lines to support the unions.

The New York City Council’s Committee on Civil Service and Labor passed a resolution today in support of a fair contract for striking actors and writers.  

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. 

Stephen Amell, whose Starz drama series Heels returned for its second season over the weekend, is not going to the mat for the actors strike that is currently taking place in Hollywood.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The musical romantic comedy series “Up Here” has been canceled after just one season at Hulu, Variety has learned. The series’ one and only season debuted on Hulu back on March 24. It was originally ordered to series at the streamer in January 2022.

AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler will join striking actors and writers on the picket line Thursday morning at Fox Studios in Los Angeles. On Tuesday, she joined picketers outside Netflix offices in New York City. “When we fight together, we win together. And we won’t stop fighting until workers have a fair contract!” she tweeted the other day.

Bryan Cranston was one of many high-profile actors to hit the picket line in New York City on Tuesday, speaking at the SAG-AFTRA’s Rock the City for a Fair Contract rally.

It’s still hot out there in much of the country, and SAG-AFTRA told its members today that picket lines in New York City have been canceled for the next two days.

With enough famous actors to populate an awards show all gathered on one stage, the labor union representing them in an “existential battle” against film and television studios held a star-studded strike rally in the middle of New York’s Times Square on Tuesday morning. 

SAG-AFTRA will hold a mass rally in Times Square on Tuesday morning. It’s expected to be the biggest rally in NYC since the strike began on July 14. Celebs scheduled to attend the “Rock the City for a Fair Contract” rally include Bryan Cranston, Steve Buscemi, Christian Slater, Lauren Ambrose, Christine Baranski, Matt Bomer, Tituss Burgess, Liza Colón-Zayas, Gregory Diaz, Jennifer Ehle, Nancy Giles, Danai Gurrira, Jill Hennessy, Marin Hinkle, Stephen Lang, Arian Moayed, Wendell Pierce, Corey Stoll and Merritt Wever.

Actors and writers of Us‘ favorite shows and movies have been reuniting on the picket lines amid the historic WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike.