Stand strong SAG-AFTRA and WGA
Thursday, July 13, 2023 at 9:14PM by Nathaniel R
There's a lot of good reporting on the current WGA strike out there from the big budget entertainment sites. You absolutely should get caught up at Vanity Fair for instance, to catch up with what's going down. We were thrilled to learn that SAG-AFTRA has joined forces with the ongoing Writers Strike. It's brought Hollywood to a literal standstill today. Productions have halted. Furthermore no actors can promote their current or upcoming TV and movies. It's a disaster for the industry that was already struggling but strikes are supposed to be disruptive and wealth absolutely must be shared. There's no reason why CEOs and executives should consume all the spoils and leave crumbs for the writers and actors who create the stories and characters we all obsess over and spend money on.
While we the audience will feel the painful repercussions for months -- watch out for many delays in movies, tv seasons, and the hobbling of Emmy season and fall film festivals as actors will not be allowed to promote their work -- we applaud the strike...
And we wonder just how dumb and greedy the power players in the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers are. Writers have of course been famously treated like dirt by Hollywood from the beginning but the industry plays a much more dangerous game when it pisses off actors. Actors have the advantage of public favor and they're good at spinning media narratives too.
Writers and actors absolutely deserve a fair deal and the executives in Hollywood are being flagrantly disrespectful of talent these days as old models of paying them (residuals) have been abandoned or gleefully worked around. Please note the disappearance of movies and shows from streaming platforms. The only reason to 'disappear' them -- a very audience unfriendly move -- is so that they don't have to pay talent residuals when you or I watch the art they made.
Hollywood's CEOs and power brokers appear to be a in a contest of Who Can Be The Most Evil? A recent deal proposed to the actors union to alleviate concerns about AI was to offer to pay them a one time fee for scans of their likeness that the studios would then own forever with no residuals for the actors and no rights for the actors about how their likenesses would be used. Insanity. But it's worse than that, as its diabolically evil.
We don't often feel this angry about the entertainment industry -- it brings us so much joy on the regular after all -- but at this point we feel the actors and writers would be justified in burning it all down.
Fran Drescher, SAG, WGA, politics
Reader Comments (7)
Doesn't look good. Fran's speech was on fire but she has been way too optimistic til now.
Appreciate your words on the strike. So proud of SAG AFTRA for standing by the WGA and authorizing a strike. The current conditions for artists and laborers is completely unfriendly. The business model has changed. Here's hoping the people who bring so much joy to our lives are compensated fairly and that the strike can be resolved with studios and especially the tech companies approaching negotiations earnestly.
I recall watching the Emmys on Sunday evening, September 7, 1980. There was a SAG strike that year. Though the Television Academy opted to hold the ceremony, union leaders asked members to boycott the event. Award after award for performances were met with absent winners.
At the end of the evening, the Emmy for Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special was being presented. The nominees were Tony Curtis, Henry Fonda, Jason Robards and newcomer Powers Boothe who played cult leader Jim Jones in a CBS TV movie.
There was noticeable surprise when Boothe was named the victor, and a door from the lobby opened. Boothe dashed down the side aisle to the stage. At the podium he said, “This may be either the bravest moment of my career or the dumbest." It is impossible to say if the decision to cross the picket line aided or hurt his career.
If the Television Academy opts to hold its Emmy ceremony as scheduled in September and SAG opts to picket, do you think there is nominee thirsty enough this year to cross the picket line for a statue?
Here's hoping the actors strike shocks the powers that be into putting together a fair and respectful deal quickly.
Don't the directors look foolish now for agreeing to their deal?
Fran's speech was great. Predicted a bit by a scene from "The Nanny" 30 years ago when she wouldn't cross a picket line with Mr. Sheffield: https://youtu.be/s3sSHF7w_D4
And this whole debacle was depicted in "Joan is Awful" from Black Mirror like 3 weeks ago!
Well... David Zaslav.... PAY THEM THEIR FUCKING MONEY YOU FASCIST!!!!
it's all well and good if the actors go on strike, but shouldn't the public go on strike too? Actors not promoting movies and not making movies damages the CEO's pockets months and months from now, but boycotting movies and television would effectively hurt the CEO's pockets this week.