Zachary Quinto Tells Fran Drescher ‘Do Not Back Down’ Amid Studios’ ‘Best and Final’ Offer: AMPTP Is ‘Relying on Intimidation’ to ‘Bring Strike to an End’

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earlier to the bargaining table, and stopped trying to work from a contract and negotiating moves that were hopelessly outdated in the streaming age.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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer SAG-AFTRA‘s new contract is worth more than $1 billion over three years. But the union did not get one of its top priorities: a share of revenue from each streaming platform. Fran Drescher, the union president, made that her top priority, arguing it was essential to transform the contract to keep up with a transformed industry.

Tyler Perry is speaking out on the SAG-AFTRA strike, now in its 117th day, as it appears a possible deal is getting much closer.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Tyler Perry appeared on “CBS Mornings” and was asked to speak publicly for the first time about the SAG-AFTRA strike, which remains ongoing after the union responded to the AMPTP’s “best and final” offer by saying the two groups still differ on “several essential items.” Although Perry praised SAG-AFTRA negotiators, he also said the union needs to realize when it’s won “for now.” The media mogul noted that SAG-AFTRA is only negotiating a three-year contract, inferring that it might not be the best strategy to continue prolonging the strike so the union can get everything it wants now when more negotiations are in store in the future. “Here I am, a studio head and an owner of a streamer, but also understanding how it is for the working actor,” Perry said. “I get what we’re fighting for…I paid Cicely Tyson $1 million for one day of work because when actors get to a certain age they’re pretty much discarded.

As SAG-AFTRA and the studios continue to go back-and-forth with proposals to reach a new contract and end the nearly six months long strikes, Zachary Quinto spoke about the individual consequences of the labor action.

This is Day 116 of the SAG-AFTRA strike.

It’s not quite Where’s Waldo?, but Fran Drescher wants to know when the studio CEOs are coming back to the table to finalize a new SAG-AFTRA three-year contract to end the guild’s nearly four-month-long strike.

SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher took to Instagram to express her condolences over the passing of Friends star Matthew Perry.

William Earl “Saturday Night Live” breakout Sarah Sherman portrayed SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher in a Halloween-themed sketch that took aim at studios, the guild’s controversial Halloween costume recommendations and “The Nanny” star herself. The sketch portrayed children running around in IP-branded Halloween costumes getting halted by Drescher, who was there to “teach you how to do Halloween during a strike.” That includes SAG-AFTRA asking members to not wear costumes based on movie or TV characters, or else “we would be promoting the companies we’re striking against, which makes all of these children a bunch of adorable scabs.” Drescher then recommended safe costumes like “Harry Potter, as described only in the book” and “minor characters from the Bible.” Pointedly, after Drescher says “That’s why we’ve been picketing for 100 days” and another character responds, “That must be exhausting,” she deadpans back, “Hey, did you just call me exhausting? Well, a lot of people have.” The quip could have been a response to recent A-list pressure on Drescher and the guild to make a deal quickly.

EXCLUSIVE: Sunday will not be a day of rest for SAG-AFTRA leadership and the studios this weekend.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer When it comes to life’s most difficult negotiations, sometimes you need a squishy friend by your side. That’s SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher’s policy for the contentious ongoing contract talks her union is embroiled in with Hollywood’s major film and TV studios.

Negotiations scheduled Wednesday between SAG-AFTRA and the studios didn’t happen after all — and everyone’s good with that.