SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher Joins WGA Picket Lines; WGAW Boss Meredith Stiehm Says “Haven’t Heard From AMPTP, Imagine We Won’t For A While”
deadline.comOn the seventh day of the Writers Guild of America’s strike against Hollywood studios, guild leaders from both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, including actors union president Fran Drescher, hit the picket lines at Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles.
WGAW president Meredith Stiehm, speaking in front of the studio’s Melrose Avenue gates, said the guild has not heard from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers since contract talks broke apart the evening of May 1 — and she doesn’t expect to hear from them for a while. “We’ll be here whenever they are available to talk about the real issues,” she said. “We didn’t feel like we had a real conversation last time around, so when they’re ready to actually get serious, we’ll be there.” SAG-AFTRA’s Drescher and EVP Ben Whitehair joined writers in front of Paramount’s gates, where Drescher spoke about the importance of solidarity among the Hollywood unions, as well as what she expects from the upcoming AMPTP negotiations for her own, massive actors union, slated to begin June 7. “[SAG-AFTRA’s] conversation is going to be very different, and I feel very hopeful that maybe we won’t get to this point,” said Drescher, as chanting writers passed on the busy sidewalk on Melrose Avenue.SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher on a possible actors strike: “It’s a very big, complicated conversation,” she tells Deadline outside Paramount Pictures in LA today #WritersStrike pic.twitter.com/lK3QXnY69bWHY I'M STRIKING: “They deserve to be compensated fairly to have fair working conditions… None of us have anything good to say without writers…” Ben Whitehair, EVP of SAG-AFTRA tells Deadline outside of Paramount Studios in LA today #WritersStrike pic.twitter.com/2AvdVz0Uvn Stiehm also noted
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