Anyone making a long-running sitcom in the ’90s is probably done. So did actress Fran Drescher, who played the leading role of Fran Fine in Die Nanny between 1993 and 1999. As a garish nanny who doesn’t mince words and conquers the hearts of a rich family, Drescher celebrated her greatest success.
In 2021, however, she assumed an even more important position. At that time she became President of the US actors’ union SAG-AFTRA chosen. And in that capacity, she recently garnered attention with an impassioned speech about the Hollywood strike.
Fran Drescher’s impassioned speech on the Hollywood strike
After negotiations with the studios, Netflix and Amazon over fair salaries broke down, the SAG board voted for the walkout. Actors and actresses in Hollywood have been on strike since July 14. As a result, nanny star Fran Drescher stepped in front of the microphones with negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland on Friday night.
In the speech, Drescher explains why SAG had to call the far-reaching strike and turns against the studios and corporations that did not respond to the demands:
What is happening here is important because what is happening to us is happening in all areas of work, when employers prioritize Wall Street and greed and forget the crucial people who keep the machine running.
The Actors’ Union isn’t striking for higher salaries for big stars: it’s for them Minimum supply for all small and supporting actorsthat you don’t see on red carpets.
CBS
Promotional material for The Nanny
In addition, SAG wants to minimize and regulate the use of artificial intelligence, for example in the animation of real actors. From the point of view of Drescher and SAG, the studios and streaming services have not sufficiently met the demands:
We had no choice. We are the victims here. […] I am shocked at the way we are treated by the people we have done business with.
And further:
I honestly can’t believe how far apart we are on so many things. How they feign poverty, lose money left and right while giving hundreds of millions of dollars to their CEOs. It’s abominable. Shame on you. You are on the wrong side of history.
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Drescher received statements of solidarity online from colleagues like Mark Hamill, while numerous other stars announced their participation in the strike. Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon and others demonstratively walked out of the cinema at the premiere of Oppenheimer in London as they are banned from promotional work amid an ongoing strike.
The renowned American critic Emily St. James summarized:
to see how Fran Drescher becomes one of the most important trade union leaders of our timeis a story that as a union member and a kid of the 90’s I absolutely love.What’s next for the double strike in Hollywood?
For the first time since 1960, writers and actors are on strike in Hollywood at the same time. Numerous film productions are therefore frozen, filming for Deadpool 3 or Mortal Kombat 2 stopped and even casting processes are no longer possible.
The longer the strikes last, the more likely it is that the start of new seasons, for example of Stranger Things or major cinema films, will be postponed. An end is only foreseeable when the studio representation (AMPTP) and the unions return to the negotiating table. There is currently no date for this.