Drescher Calls Out "Greedy CEOs" amid Showrunner Meetings and Studio Negotiations
Fran Drescher, the SAG-AFTRA recently re-elected president, is focusing less on the meeting of several showrunners with Writers Guild leadership scheduled this week and more on studios and streamer's return to bargaining tables to settle for a fair deal. Speaking out on Wednesday as she exited a solidarity march and rally outside Paramount Studios, Drescher voiced her concerns in this regard to Deadline. Her comments come in context with the ongoing meeting plans between the guild negotiating committee and some showrunners like Kenya Barris, Black-ish creator, and Noah Hawley from Fargo at WGA headquarters. This meeting, which has been witnessing many schedule alterations, was initially planned as an "information session".
Drescher, known for her outspokenness, voiced her concerns with regards to the showrunners. "I don’t feel like showrunners are in opposition to performers,” she said, responding to a question about the high-profile meeting. "It's the greedy CEOs at the very top who really want to not make us their partners, but keep us their peons," she added. This comes in the backdrop of an abrupt meeting called by Netflix's Ted Sarandos, Universal's Donna Langley, and Warner Bros Discovery's David Zaslav with WGA leaders on August 22, which ended up in the guild rejecting the AMPTP's proposal to terminate the strikes.
Drescher also criticized AMPTP's decision to hire the Levinson Group, a crisis PR firm. Onstage, she scoffed at this decision and spoke about it in front of unemployed and locked-out actors and writers. She criticized AMPTP's spree on fancy publicists for their image enhancement, driving home her point with a call to authenticity and doing the right thing.
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Now, as a Hoffman disciple flanked by the likes of witty sitcoms, it doesn’t take a Silver screen oracle to see Drescher’s fiery passion for justice in the entertainment world. Like a scene straight out of a high-stakes drama - think 'Aaron Sorkin meets Spielberg', Drescher deliver lines that'd make any villain rethink their tactics.
And yes, I admit, negotiations and wage disputes aren’t exactly glamorous Hollywood fare, but they hold the weight of a Truman Burbank reality check. There's a symphony of power-plays in those boardrooms yet it all boils down to a dysfunctional family drama where the patriarch figure, the studio-commune, loses the plot.
But then comes the glimmer of resilience, with Fran Drescher leading the vanguard like a modern-day Norma Rae. Her conviction is unmistakable, her voice the symbol of the discontent bubbling in the catacombs of Hollywood. The same discontent that sends shivers down the spine of our well-coiffed CEOs.
Drescher’s emphatic call out of the AMPTP is the kind of boldness we need. Laying bare the hypocrisy of the system and unearthing the brigandage of image factories, it’s a scene painted by Edvard Munch - The Scream, but in a Hollywood setting. As Drescher so eloquently put: "They can't compete with our authenticity and our sincerity... just do the right thing." A simple, but powerful directive.
This unfolding drama serves as a stark reminder of the pyramid structure Hollywood molds itself around. On paper, it's a lush paradise, but dig a little deeper, and we find a complex hierarchy rife with intricate power dynamics. Like any pyramid, the foundation supports the apex - the creatives, the performers, they're the lifeblood, the ones guiding the behemoth called Hollywood. And as Drescher pointedly indicates, it's about time they were treated as partners rather than peons.
Welcome to Tinseltown folks, where the spotlight isn’t just limited to the screen; it's also firmly focused on the growing rallying cries for fairness and equality.
