“Eventually the people break down the gates of Versailles, and then it’s over. And we’re at that moment right now.”
Standing in front of a crowded group of journalists at a press conference on Thursday, actress Fran Drescher had clearly had enough. In a fiery speech that quickly went viral on social media, The Nanny star, who also heads Hollywood’s biggest union SAG-AFTRA, blasted Hollywood studios after talks between them and the actors’ union failed to avert a strike. “We are the victims here,” she said, her voice clearly laden with emotion. “We are being victimised by a very greedy entity. I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us.”
The union representing more than 150,000 television and movie actors announced Thursday that it would go on strike at midnight, joining screenwriters who walked out in May and creating Hollywood’s first industry-wide shutdown in 63 years.
As Drescher breathed fire into the podium, on the other side of the Atlantic, the star-studded cast of Christopher Nolan’s new war thriller Oppenheimer caught wind of the strike news. The cast, including Florence Pugh, Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Matt Damon, collectively stood up and walked out of the film’s London premiere, to “go and write their picket signs”, as Nolan put it.
“You’ve seen them here earlier on the red carpet,” the director announced to the cinema’s audience. “Unfortunately, they’re off to write their picket signs for what we believe to be an imminent strike by Sag, joining one of my guilds, the Writers Guild, in the struggle for fair wages for working members of the unions, and we support them.”
The dual strike action is a watershed moment for the industry. So what is behind the walkouts, and could it see Hollywood grind to a complete halt for the foreseeable future?
‘We’ve got to protect people on the margins’ — why actors are going on strike
It was only a few weeks ago that is seemed like SAG-AFTRA was close to reaching a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which represents major studios and streamers. Closer anyway, than the union’s counterpart, the Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike since the beginning of May.
Even when members of SAG — which includes nearly every TV, film and radio actor in the United States — voted overwhelmingly June 5 to strike, the union’s leaders suggested the move was simply a negotiating tactic. However, talks quickly fell apart over the course of the following month, with a final negotiation failing to reach an agreement on Tuesday, setting up Thursday’s historic strike announcement.
As with most industrial action, pay is at the centre of the dispute. But there are also wider questions for the sustainability of a business model that has been drastically changed by streaming and artificial intelligence. One of the main sticking points is about residual payments – a type of royalty. Both actors and writers have demanded an increase in residual payments from streaming services, which actors say are inadequate.
“We’ve got to protect the people who are kind of on the margins,” Matt Damon said at the Oppenheimer premiere in London. “26,000 bucks a year is what you have to make to get your health insurance. And there are a lot of people who â residual payments are what carry them across that threshold. If those residual payments dry up, so does their healthcare, and that’s absolutely unacceptable.”
It used to be the case that if a TV series did well, actors and writers could count on a long stream of regular residual checks. But since streaming platforms became the dominant force in the industry, this is no longer the case.
Another fear is the rise of artificial intelligence and the concern that an actor’s digital likeness could be used without their knowledge. SAG members are demanding guarantees on how exactly AI will be used by studio and production companies, but AMPTP is reportedly remaining stubborn on the matter.
“The writers want this whole area to be regulated whereas the Hollywood companies are being fairly non-committal… and want to reconvene once a year to discuss [it],” Jeremy Kay, Screen International’s Los Angeles-based Americas editor told the Standard. “AI-generated screenplays are already out there, so you can bet executives and producers are exploring this area.”
For their part, AMPTP have said: “This is the Union’s choice, not ours. Rather than continuing to negotiate, SAG-AFTRA has put us on a course that will deepen the financial hardship for thousands who depend on the industry for their livelihoods.”
‘It is disgusting. Shame on them’ — Fran Drescher takes to the podium
For those unacquainted with her career, Fran Drescher was perhaps a rather unexpected figurehead of a resurgence of the US’ national labour movement. Standing at just over 5 ft 3, the 65-year-old actress best known for starring in US sitcom The Nanny is perhaps as far from the stereotype of a union leader leading workers into war against corporate giants.
But no sooner had the actors’ guild’s campaign against Hollywood streaming giants begun, did Drescher emerge as its thundering leading voice.
“The eyes of the world and particularly the eyes of labour are upon us,” she shouted in front of a crowded group of cameras at a press conference on Thursday. “What happens to us is important. What’s happening to us is happening across all fields of labour.”
Her voice and her fists shook. “I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us!” she continued. “It is disgusting. Shame on them. They stand on the wrong side of history.”
“We are the victims here. We are being victimised by a very greedy entity. I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us.
The speech struck a chord and quickly went viral on Twitter. Despite a long history of activism, many still only knew Drescher as a sitcom star. One Twitter user wrote: “Fran Drescher becoming one of the consequential union leaders of our time is an arc I am absolutely delighted by as both a union gal and a ‘90s kid.”
Her speech’s echoes with the wider global labour movement were also palpable, particularly the accusations of executives making "Wall Street and greed their priority" while ignoring the "essential contributors that make the machine run".
Drescher is the latest in a long line of familiar faces — including Ronald Reagan, Patty Duke and Charlton Heston — to run SAG-AFTRA. But none have seen the union through such a crisis point at a time when the industry faces a real existential threat.
From Margot Robbie to Colin Farell — the Hollywood heavyweights who have shown their support
London’s Leicester Square was a sea of blonde wigs, pink frocks and glitter on Wednesday night. But, while the basked in the carefree hedonism of the European Barbie premiere, the film’s stars were acutely aware of the tension brewing on the other side of the Atlantic. "I’m very much in support of all the unions, and I’m a part of SAG,” Margot Robbie, who plays Barbie, told reporters on the red carpet. “So I would absolutely stand by that.”
She is one of an impossibly-long list of Hollywood heavyweights including Meryl Streep, Ben Stiller and Colin Farrell who have come out in support of the strikes.
The day after the Barbie premiere, stars of Christopher Nolan’s thriller Oppenheimer walked out of their London premiere to “go and write their picket signs” after hearing news of the strike.
"The list is enormous - Robert Downey Jr, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Kenneth Branagh, Rami Malek and so many more. You’ve seen them here earlier on the red carpet,” the director announced to the cinema’s audience. “Unfortunately, they’re off to write their picket signs for what we believe to be an imminent strike by Sag, joining one of my guilds, the Writers Guild, in the struggle for fair wages for working members of the unions, and we support them.”
Among SAG’s 160,000-strong ranks are many of the world’s biggest stars. A-listers, from Tom Cruise to Angelina Jolie to Robbie herself are card-carrying union members.
Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer was also one of many in the industry to publicly show solidarity with the strikes, sharing a letter of support to Instagram.
"I stand with my fellow #SAGAFTRAMembers during the #SAGStrike alongside the #WGA in their fight," Spencer captioned the post. "And I support the many skilled unionized workers across all industries that deserve fair compensation. We cannot do it without each other."
On Wednesday, while promoting her new film Haunted Mansion, Jamie Lee Curtis also addressed the walkouts in an Instagram post. "The souls of ghosts of performers long past urging us in this modern moment to fight for our rights to exist as creators," she wrote. "What I will say is that although I AM computer generated (in her role), it is FROM my PERFORMANCE, my sense of comedic timing and you CANNOT replicate that with a machine. I stand STRONG with my union @sagaftra".
Avatar, Stranger Things, Wicked – will Hollywood grind to a halt?
The ongoing writers’ strike has already been successful in ensuring the shutdown of the vast majority of scripted TV shows in the US. Series including Stranger Things, The Last of Us and The Mandalorian have already been halted, with no clarity yet on whether their upcoming seasons will be delayed.
Future projects – such as Disney’s Blade remake – have also stalled, as scripts are not being finished. Others, including Thunderbolts and Captain America: Brave New World, are in production, but have had their release dates delayed.
Now, the actors’ strike promises to add even further disruption.
This is in part because Sag-Aftra’s stretch is global: any film or TV show featuring a Hollywood actor is likely to have to shut down, or be rescheduled at the very least.
During the first two weeks of July, no scripted TV permits were issued in Los Angeles County, according to FilmLA.
“In a normal week at this time of year, there would be dozens of scripted television projects in production. By contrast, we have no scripted TV series with permits to film this week,” the agency said.
Films and TV shows that have completed shooting and are already in postproduction are likely to be able stay on schedule. But participating any ongoing production with any of the studios is now off the table, which means that, within a few months viewers will begin to notice broader changes to their TV consumption.
According to Deadline, TV shows likely to be affected include House of the Dragon, Andor and Industry, as well as new titles such as HBO’s Kate Winslet drama The Palace and Peacock’s Day of the Jackal remake. Doctor Who, is also likely to be affected by strike action.
Some of the biggest blockbusters currently in production include Ghostbusters 4, Mufasa: The Lion King and Avatar 3 and 4, according to the Internet Movie Database. Other productions which may be affected include Deadpool 3, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, along with Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice sequel and a film adaptation of the musical Wicked starring Ariana Grande.
As well as a pause on film-making activities, officials have said there will be no promotion of current projects, either online or in person.
It’s unclear how long the current industrial action could last. In 1980, during the last actors’ strike, the walkout lasted 10 weeks and cost around $100m (£76m), equivalent to about $370m today.
But, in the mean time, don’t expect to hear “come on Barbie let’s go party!” on the red carpet again anytime soon.
