LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥 Fran Drescher has steered the actors guild through its monthslong strike. On the heels of Hollywood studios abruptly breaking off talks with the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists this week, the actor and union president says she's baffled and disappointed.
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announced Wednesday that they had saying the gap between the two sides was too great to make continuing worth it and characterizing their offer as good as the one that recently ended the writers strike. Drescher told The Associated Press in a Thursday interview that she did not understand why negotiations collapsed but that her union's resolve has not weakened.
The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: Can you talk about what happened in your negotiations with the AMPTP?
DRESCHER: They had given us a proposal package. We worked for like 36 hours on it. We brought it back to them. We walked them through it and they left and then called a few hours later and said, 鈥淲e鈥檙e breaking negotiations.鈥 So it鈥檚 not only baffling but wholly disappointing and counterproductive.
I鈥檝e never really met people that actually don鈥檛 understand what negotiations mean. Why are you walking away from the table? To what end do you hope that that will accomplish anything?
And actually, are more pumped up than ever. They feel so insulted by this, so degraded by this and dishonored by this that it鈥檚 like, 鈥淔ran, do not cave. Remain strong. Hold onto your resolve because this can鈥檛 be for nothing.鈥
AP: Can you talk about the mood of the conversations before they broke off? Was there a sense that talks would be smoother after the studios reached
DRESCHER: With the writers guild also, they broke negotiations with that too. So now that a everybody鈥檚 all warm and fuzzy. But at the time, I think it was very contentious. They don鈥檛 like to give away ice in winter.
So I鈥檝e never really dealt with this kind of affront, of indignation and a need to get their own way. I think that they鈥檙e very used to getting their own way. I think that the idea that we want to go into a pocket to compensate for the lack of income that we cannot get for our working members is just so repugnant to them. And they just feel like, 鈥淲ho are we to want to get compensated the way we used to be? Who are we to think that we deserve to make an honest wage that meets inflation? Who are we to challenge them in any way? We should be so lucky to get whatever they want because they鈥檙e the bosses.鈥
And I keep pointing out to them that that kind of business practice is unsustainable nowadays. It was maybe something that people bought into in the 20th century. But that 鈥渄og eat dog, the bottom line is the bottom line,鈥 it just doesn鈥檛 pan out. And we can鈥檛 think that way anymore. You can鈥檛 go into a whole new business and not question how this is going to impact the foundational contributors to your business. And that鈥檚 exactly what they did. And now they鈥檙e like annoyed at us for pointing out the problem.
It鈥檚 really like an alternate universe. I can鈥檛 even believe it. And I keep trying to put it into a global context that they have a responsibility to workers. They鈥檙e leaders in the industry. They should set the example for industries around the world. This is their opportunity as well to raise the bar on how employers deal with workers. How they thank them, how they include them, how they treat them like people.
AP: This will officially be the longest strike in next week. What are your thoughts on how we got here?
DRESCHER: Well, I think it鈥檚 indicative of the fact that they stopped talking to us back on July 12 and didn鈥檛 come back until less than 10 days ago. You know, we鈥檝e only met with them a couple of times. Monday, half a day Wednesday, half a day Friday. That was what they were available for. Then this past week, it was Monday and a half a day on Wednesday. And then 鈥淏ye bye.鈥
I don鈥檛 even know what they鈥檙e thinking. But I did say to them, 鈥淲ith all due respect, we have been waiting for you to come back.鈥 We wanted to avert a strike. We extended an unprecedented extension and we called them ... They don鈥檛 really want to negotiate. They just want us to like what they want us to like. They don鈥檛 want us to have a mind. They don鈥檛 want us to have a thought. They don鈥檛 want us to have feelings or complain that we can鈥檛 make a living and we can鈥檛 support our families and we鈥檙e having problems paying the rent.
They don鈥檛 want to hear about it because they keep giving us this huge inflated number of how much they鈥檙e spending on production and how much they鈥檙e paying out to our union in salary. But it鈥檚 all divided up amongst so many thousands of people that it doesn鈥檛 add up to anything except for our highest paying earners, which I have zero problem with. And we鈥檙e fighting for them They鈥檙e very concerned about their likeness, their essence of being. The thing that makes them a star is going to be ripped off, going to be turned into something that鈥檚 hardly even recognizable.
AP: So, what now?
DRESCHER: Well, they called and said, 鈥淲e鈥檙e walking away. We鈥檙e breaking negotiations.鈥 Now, we鈥檙e in the midst of a serious negotiating committee meeting. Everybody went out on the picket lines today (Thursday). The resolve is very strong.
So I think that they think that we鈥檙e going to cower, but that鈥檚 never going to happen because this is a crossroads and we must stay on course.
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