SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher Has an Adorable Ally in Actors’ Strike Negotiations

Fran Drescher has not been carrying a Furby around to The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) strike negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), in spite of prior reports. Instead, the actor and SAG chief has reportedly been carrying a Jellycat plush during the meetings. After drawing some criticism from the other side of the table, Drescher defended her decision to carry the plush, which was reportedly given to her by a fan. The union also suggested that picketers at Amazon Studios today carry plushies with them in solidarity.

Drescher’s decision to carry the plush, and to stand by it after AMPTP negotiators commented on it, has become an unexpected moral stand, it seems. What presumably started as a casual thing has now escalated into a matter of principle.

 “I don’t have [to] emulate a masculine energy [to be] a good leader,” Drescher tweeted on Wednesday. “I can be smart, have a keen ability [to see] integral flaws in a business model AND put a tiny heart shaped plush toy between me and Bob Iger.”  

You can see her comments in context here:

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Variety broke down the history of the plush in a tongue-in-cheek article here.

The AMPTP has been floating off-the-record comments to the trades this week, suggesting that today is make-or-break, as they’re worried that TV series won’t be able to go back into production if a deal isn’t struck soon. The idea is that holiday breaks in November and December would essentially turn every show into (at best) a midseason, shortened-season show, and the studios are willing to take a bigger loss and just return to normal next year.

That’s after analysts have mostly scored the Writers Guild of America strike as a loss for management. Early talks suggested that things were promising with the actors, but talks have broken down and resumed again since then, suggesting there are still some pretty serious sticking points.

The actors went on strike in July, about two months after the writers did. It’s unlikely it will take another two months to get a deal struck, though. The WGA and Director’s Guild of America contracts have likely set certain standards that the studios will have to meet with the actors, and that presumably limits the scope of the current talks.

Key issues at play are much the same as they were with the directors and writers: actors are worried about residuals, and the way the opaque streaming data seems to have severely limited what creatives can make from reruns and streams of their shows; they’re also concerned about artificial intelligence, with studios in the case of actors having proposed a plan to digitally scan background actors and then use their likenesses indefinitely and without additional cost.

The writers won significant improvements in transparency and in protections against the studios’ use of unregulated AI. It seems likely the actors will have similar success in those same spaces, but until a deal is finalized it’s hard to be sure.