Fran Drescher Faces a Leadership Test as A-Listers Pressure SAG-AFTRA to Make a Deal
variety.comGene Maddaus Senior Media Writer In her two years as SAG-AFTRA president, Fran Drescher has worked assiduously to bridge the factional divides that have long beset the union. “Member unity will be my greatest legacy,” she promised in her campaign statement this summer, and she sought reelection. (She was reelected with more than 80% of the vote.) But as the SAG-AFTRA strike nears the 100-day mark, Drescher is facing her most challenging leadership test so far: Can she hold the union together long enough to deliver the “seminal” deal she has promised members?
A group of A-list actors, led by George Clooney, met with her and the union’s top negotiator on Tuesday. Though the A-listers were keen to be supportive, the underlying message was that they are eager to get Hollywood back to work and are not confident that the guild is on a path to doing that.
The group, which also included Ben Affleck, Meryl Streep and Scarlett Johansson, presented a proposal to increase dues on high-earning actors and reconfigure residuals so they benefit the low end of the income scale.
When the A-listers were gently rebuffed, they could have stayed quiet. Instead, Clooney went public with his idea — an apparent challenge to Drescher and the SAG-AFTRA Negotiating Committee, and a potential sign that the union’s solidarity is beginning to fray.
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