Consider This from NPR - Fran Drescher on How the Hollywood Strikes Can End

Episode Date: September 7, 2023

The writers and actors strikes have been grinding on for months with no end in sight. Many on the picket lines are struggling to pay for basics.NPR's Ailsa Chang talks to Fran Drescher about what it's going to take to end the strikes. Drescher's the president of SAG-AFTRA, which represents the actors on strike. Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This message comes from Indiana University. Indiana University is committed to moving the world forward, working to tackle some of society's biggest challenges. Nine campuses, one purpose. Creating tomorrow, today. More at iu.edu. On the picket lines outside the major studios these days, you hear a lot of determination, a lot of solidarity, but you know, you also hear things like this. I've been living in my parents' garage for the time being, you know. My spouse and I are currently on food stamps. You know, sometimes it's Cheez-Its for lunch, but it's something. That was writer Taylor Orsi and actor Brisa Covarrubias. Strikes by writers

and actors against major Hollywood studios have been going on for months. And at the moment, there doesn't seem to be any end in sight, which means that day by day, many of those on strike are just trying to stay afloat. Actors and writers, we know how to live for. We know how to eat noodles. We know how to scale down and live on basically nothing for months. That's Michelle Allaire, a striking member of SAG-AFTRA who runs a diner in Culver City. We all know how to wait tables. We all know how to scrap and do other jobs. And, you know, half the people are Uber drivers and we know how to fill in the gaps. But these strikes are so long and involve so many people that even those who aren't in the striking unions have lost work. Becky Portman has been giving Hebrew lessons to kids preparing for bar and bat mitzvahs.

She's also substitute teaching at a preschool. When the writer's strike began in May, she was furloughed as a showrunner's assistant for the Peacock series Killing It. It is scary to have this gig economy and word of mouth job just trying to figure out how to make kind of an income in a temporary way because we're not really sure how long this is going to last. Consider this. So how long can actors and writers hold out? Well, one person who can help answer that question is SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher. We'll ask her where the negotiations are going next. From NPR, I'm Elsa Chang. It's Thursday, September 7th. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies. Send, spend, or receive money internationally, and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees.

Download the WISE app today or visit wise.com. T's and C's apply. This message comes from Indiana University. Indiana University drives discovery, innovation, and creative endeavors to solve some of society's greatest challenges. Groundbreaking investments in neuroscience, climate change, Alzheimer's research, and cybersecurity mean IU sets new standards to move the world forward, unlocking cures and solutions that lead to a better future for all. More at iu.edu forward. It's Consider This from NPR.

The fall season normally means a brand new season of television. Damn right. Are you ready for it? Of course, that is not what ABC sounds like this year. In fact, the network won't have a single new scripted TV show. Other studios are also canceling TV shows and pushing back big film releases, too. And much of that is thanks to the Strikes, pitting the major studios on one side, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, and actors and writers on the other side. And one of their leaders is Fran Drescher. She's the president of SAG-AFTRA, which represents the actors on strike. We stopped by their national headquarters on Tuesday in Los Angeles.

Well, thank you for meeting with us because I know it's been a very long hot summer for everybody involved. And I spent some time with my parents in South Florida in August. Oh, even longer, hotter summer. Add to that. So that takes a hot summer to a new meaning. Uh-huh. Long, hot summer is an understatement for so many of the people on the picket lines right now. Writers have been on strike since May.

Actors since July. By the way, no one at NPR is striking, even though a lot of us are members of SAG-AFTRA, we're just under a different contract. For Fran Drescher, with a strike grinding on with no end in sight, solidarity among the ranks is key. This is unlike any other strike and any other contract. We are at an inflection point. And we're seeing that because, you know, we stood our ground, there are strikes that are beginning to show up all over the place that have nothing to do with our industry. And it's like a domino effect. suddenly somebody said the emperor has no clothes. Let me ask you about this inflection point. The studios, who again are represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers or AMPTP, they publicly released their counter to the Writers Guild on August 22nd

with concessions like a 13% increase in pay over three years, increases in residuals, which are basically like royalty payments. What do you make of those recent concessions to the writers? I'm in the WGA too. Yeah, you're a writer as well. And I always say writer's rule, if it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage. The problem is the culture of the big business in this industry. It's no longer what it used to be. It's CEOs very tied to their performance with Wall Street. And it's this diminishing and degrading of the artisans that they're building their whole business on. Like, let's try and get them as cheap as we can so that the shareholders, we can show we're making

more money for them, and then the CEOs can get their big bonuses. That's not the way to have a collaborative art form. I hear your point about it being a collaborative art form. But I mean, the business of entertainment is changing. Studios like Disney are saying traditional TV revenues are in decline. They're also losing money on streaming. I mean, don't the unions at some level have to recognize that the entertainment business, because it's changing, the way writers and actors, the way they get paid will have to recognize that the entertainment business, because it's changing, the way writers and actors, the way they get paid will have to change as well. Well, that's what we're striking over because we're dealing with a contract that structure

was created at the last big strike in 1960. The business has no resemblance to that anymore. When you cut down the amount of episodes per season from six or eight or 10, that used to be 22 to 28, and you cut back on the amount of seasons that make up a series, that old residual model is ineffective. Also, it's in a vacuum because they're not selling it into syndication. They're not selling it globally. There's no tail to the revenue anymore. So where is the money? It's not there anymore. And that's the problem because the structure of the contract has to change as exponentially as the business model has changed. Only they're not thinking that way. And what I'm understanding from some of the studios is the money simply isn't there. Or that, as you know, Bob Iger of Disney said that some of these

unions' demands are just unrealistic because, I mean, the numbers are telling. Disney's streaming operation lost $512 million in the most recent quarter. Its total streaming losses since 2019 amount to more than $11 billion. Disney's saying at the same time, advertisers are pulling back from traditional TV channels like ESPN and ABC. So, you know, this is all from their latest earnings reports. How do you push back on the studios who say, you're talking about getting more money from us for streaming, but we don't have that money yet. It's unrealistic to demand what you're demanding. How would you respond? I would say that, first of all,

stop talking to the studios. You gotta talk to everybody. No, no, I'm being facetious. And also I have to say that whoever is gonna listen to this, you have the loveliest voice and then you keep coming back to me. I don't know what this interview is going to sound like. But let me just say this. $78,000 a day, when a studio makes a billion dollars on a weekend,

please do not plead poverty to me. Just make a good deal. You could be the hero in the story. Just pivot. Start being inclusive. Start realizing that we're not peons. We're not serfs. We're in this together. Honor our artistry. Exalt what we bring to the world. Share the wealth. And you'll see that, you know, the business will have much more longevity and much less of this kind of thing.

Do you see the studios coming back to the negotiating table with SAG-AFTRA anytime soon? Because you guys are at a standstill right now. Well, it's not really, you know, the only standstill is that I think that they are not wanting to come to the table because they're hoping that they can hold out longer than we can hold out. But that is not in the spirit of negotiation. You feel like it's a game of chicken right now? I think that and I think greed. You know, this insatiable appetite for money, they're still not seeing that the culture needs to change, that they need to change. This conversation is bigger than our contract. It's about caring. It's about being empathic. It's about making money, but not at the expense. Don't step on me, climb on my shoulders, beat me down just so that you can make an extra shekel. Sorry, but that is no longer acceptable. Fran Drescher is an actor, writer, producer, and president of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA.

That was a mouthful. Thanks so much for meeting with us today, Fran. Thank you. My pleasure. My pleasure. All right. Well, we did ask the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers if a studio head was available for interview.

They declined. And a spokesperson wrote us this instead. Quote, the AMPTP fully recognizes that the talented creative community makes the entertainment industry possible. The AMPTP is focused on reaching a swift resolution to the strike and is eager to have a meaningful negotiation about the issues on the table with SAG-AFTRA and WGA leaders. Well, we're going to bring in NPR culture correspondent Mondeleet Delbarco now. She's been're going to bring in NPR culture correspondent Mandelit Delbarco now. She's been covering the double strikes in Hollywood, and she was with us during that

interview with Fran Drescher. She joins us now in studio. Hey, Mandelit. Hey, Elsa. Okay, so tell us more about what studio executives are saying about the strike. Well, you know, if it's any indication, the AMPTP also recently hired a crisis management group and a public relations firm to try to change the narrative that they're the bad guys in this scenario. But then again, almost everybody in Hollywood has a PR agent. So other than Disney's Bob Iger, who you quoted, Elsa, we've heard very little from the heads of the studios, just a few anonymous quotes in some of the trade publications.

Months into the strike, the studio CEOs finally met directly with the Writers Guild of America. That didn't go over so well. They were accused of chastising the writers. And as Fran Drescher noted, the studios haven't gotten back to the actors yet. But we might get some clues from the second quarter earnings calls these studio heads are making. Take a listen to Warner Brothers Discovery CEO David Zasloff talking to investors this week. It's critically important that everybody, the writers, the directors, the actors, the producers, all the below the line crews, everyone needs to be fairly compensated and they need to feel valued and feel that they're fairly compensated in order to do their best work. And that we have to focus on getting that done. You know, I'm hopeful it's going to happen soon.

Huh. That does kind of sound hopeful. Well, Zaslav said because of its hit movie Barbie and because they're not spending on productions, Warner Brothers has had a good summer. But he says if the strikes go through the end of the year, he expects profits to go down by as much as $500 million. Well, how long do you think the studios can go without the writers and actors working? We'll see how this fall goes for the studios. Actors and writers are not promoting their shows and movies. Some studios have delayed some of their big movie openings and will soon start noticing the only new content on the small screen are

unscripted shows, reality shows. And one last thing, younger generations may not even have much use for traditional Hollywood. Just ask my 11-year-old. She watches TV and movies, but even more TikToks and YouTube videos. Oh, I so believe that. That is NPR's Mandelit Delbarco. Thank you so much, Mandelit. Thanks, Elsa. And Mendeleet also brought us the stories of those out-of-work actors and writers you heard at the beginning of this episode. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Elsa Chang.