< 'You could be the hero': Fran Drescher tells NPR how the Hollywood strikes can end

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

And I'm Ailsa Chang in Los Angeles, where the fall season normally means a brand-new season of television.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Damn right.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "...READY FOR IT?")

TAYLOR SWIFT: (Singing) Are you ready for it?

CHANG: That is not what ABC sounds like this year. In fact, the network won't have a single new scripted TV show. Much of that is thanks to the monthslong strikes here in Hollywood, pitting the major studios on one side - represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers - against actors and writers on the other side. And one of their leaders is Fran Drescher.

Hi, Fran.

FRAN DRESCHER: Hi. How are you?

CHANG: She's the president of SAG-AFTRA, which represents the actors on strike.

DRESCHER: Nice to meet you.

CHANG: So nice to meet you.

DRESCHER: How do you do?

CHANG: I love your dress. That's a gorgeous color on you.

DRESCHER: Thank you. Yeah.

CHANG: We stopped by their national headquarters yesterday in Los Angeles.

Well, thank you for meeting with us 'cause I know it's been a very long, hot summer for...

DRESCHER: (Laughter).

CHANG: ...Everybody involved.

DRESCHER: And I spent some time with my parents in South Florida in August, so...

CHANG: Oh, even longer, hotter summer.

DRESCHER: ...Yeah (laughter).

CHANG: Add to that.

(LAUGHTER)

DRESCHER: So that takes a hot summer to a new meaning.

CHANG: Long, hot summer is an understatement for so many of the people on the picket lines right now. Writers have been on strike since May, actors since July. By the way, no one at NPR is striking. Even though a lot of us are members of SAG-AFTRA, we're just under a different contract. For Fran Drescher, with a strike grinding on with no end in sight, solidarity among the ranks is key.

DRESCHER: This is unlike any other strike and any other contract. We are at an inflection point. And we're seeing that because, you know, we stood our ground, there are strikes that are beginning to show up all over the place that have nothing to do with our industry. And it's like a domino effect because suddenly, somebody said, the emperor has no clothes.

CHANG: Let me ask you about this inflection point. The studios who, again, are represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, or AMPTP - they publicly released their counter to the Writers Guild on August 22 with concessions like a 13% increase in pay over three years, increases in residuals, which are basically, like, royalty payments. What do you make of those recent concessions to the writers?

DRESCHER: I'm in the WGA, too.

CHANG: Yeah, you're a writer, as well.

DRESCHER: And I always say writers rule - if it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage. The problem is the culture of the big business in this industry. It's no longer what it used to be. It's CEOs very tied to their performance with Wall Street. And it's this diminishing and degrading of the artisans that they're building their whole business on. Like, let's try and get them as cheap as we can so that the shareholders - we can show we're making more money for them, and then the CEOs can get their big bonuses. That's not the way to have a collaborative art form.

CHANG: I hear your point about it being a collaborative art form, but, I mean, the business of entertainment is changing. Studios like Disney are saying traditional TV revenues are in decline. They're also losing money on streaming. I mean, don't the unions, at some level, have to recognize that the entertainment business - because it's changing the way writers and actors - the way they get paid will have to change, as well?

DRESCHER: Well, that's what we're striking over because we're dealing with a contract that's structure was created at the last big strike in 1960. The business has no resemblance to that anymore. When you cut down the amount of episodes per season from six or eight or 10 that used to be 22 to 28 and you cut back on the amount of seasons that make up a series, that old residual model is ineffective. Also, it's in a vacuum because they're not selling it into syndication. They're not selling it globally. There's no tail to the revenue anymore. So where is the money? It's not there anymore. And that's the problem because the structure of the contract has to change as exponentially as the business model has changed, only they're not thinking that way.

CHANG: And what I'm understanding from some of the studios is the money simply isn't there or that, as you know, Bob Iger of Disney said that some of these unions' demands are just unrealistic because, I mean, the numbers are telling. Disney's streaming operation lost $512 million in the most recent quarter. Its total streaming losses since 2019 amount to more than $11 billion. Disney's saying at the same time, advertisers are pulling back from traditional TV channels like ESPN and ABC. So, you know, this is all from their latest earnings reports. How do you push back on the studios who say, you're talking about getting more money from us for streaming, but we don't have that money yet? It's unrealistic to demand what you're demanding. How would you respond?

DRESCHER: I would say that, first of all, stop talking to the studios. (laughter).

CHANG: You got to talk to everybody.

(LAUGHTER)

DRESCHER: No, no, I'm being facetious. And also, I have to say that whoever is going to listen to this - you have the loveliest voice, and then you keep coming back to me.

CHANG: (Laughter) I'm sorry, Fran.

DRESCHER: I don't know what this interview is going to sound like.

(LAUGHTER)

DRESCHER: But let me just say this - when a CEO is making $78,000 a day, when a studio makes a billion dollars on a weekend, please do not plead poverty to me. Just make a good deal. You could be the hero in the story. Just pivot. Start being inclusive. Start realizing that we're not peons. We're not serfs. We're in this together. Honor our artistry. Exalt what we bring to the world. Share the wealth, and you'll see that, you know, the business will have much more longevity and much less of this kind of thing.

CHANG: Do you see the studios coming back to the negotiating table with SAG-AFTRA any time soon? - 'cause you guys are at a standstill right now.

DRESCHER: Well, it's not really a - you know, the only standstill is that I think that they are not wanting to come to the table because they're hoping that they can hold out longer than we can hold out. But that is not in the spirit of negotiation.

CHANG: You feel like it's a game of chicken right now.

DRESCHER: I think that, and I think greed - you know, this insatiable appetite for money. They're still not seeing that the culture needs to change, that they need to change. This conversation is bigger than our contract. It's about caring. It's about being empathic. It's about making money but not at the expense. Don't step on me, climb on my shoulders, beat me down just so that you can make an extra shekel. Sorry, but that is no longer acceptable.

CHANG: Fran Drescher is an actor, writer, producer and president of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, or SAG-AFTRA. That's a mouthful. Thanks so much for meeting with us today, Fran.

DRESCHER: Thank you. My pleasure.

Copyright © 2023 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.