Fran Drescher Takes Center Stage in Hollywood Labor Battle
variety.comGene Maddaus Senior Media Writer As the clock ticked toward midnight on July 12, SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher addressed the group of negotiators from the major studios. “You’re sitting on the wrong side of history,” she told them. “Shame on you.” It had been clear for some time that Drescher’s union would go on strike.
A final day of talks with two federal mediators had done nothing to bridge the gaps between the two sides. Drescher’s speech served as the exclamation point — a dramatic flourish from a born performer — casting the dispute over business models and residual formulas in Manichean terms.
Best known for her 1990s sitcom “The Nanny,” Drescher has now taken a starring role in Hollywood’s “hot labor summer.” On Thursday, she led her union of 160,000 members into its first TV and film strike in 43 years.
It is also the first “double strike” — with writers and actors together on the picket lines — since 1960, when Ronald Reagan led the Screen Actors Guild.
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