There was a large crowd in the room when SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood’s major studios and streamers formally began contract bargaining negotiations on June 7. About 80 participants from both the labor a…
There was a large crowd in the room when SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood’s major studios and streamers formally began contract bargaining negotiations on June 7.
Drescher was adamant that streaming had changed the business model so much that the contract would have to be rewritten top-to-bottom. For negotiators who are used to making minor adjustments to language that has accreted over decades, it was a shock. There were snickers about being “scolded” by the actor who became famous as the star of the 1990s CBS sitcom “The Nanny.
After several days of presentations, AMPTP president Carol Lombardini asked SAG-AFTRA to move on to address the heart of the thorny financial and technological issues on the table. Lombardini is known for taking a stern tone in the room at times — “That’s not going to happen,” she would say when certain demands were raised, such as the union’s push for a cut of streaming subscription revenues to offset lower residual rates.
Crabtree-Ireland and others were incensed, interpreting Lombardini’s remark as her calling the SAG-AFTRA negotiators “uncivilized.” He and others were outraged at the suggestion that going on strike was somehow a low blow rather than federally protected legal right for organized labor. Time pressure and frayed nerves led some to raise their voices in the group’s final moments together in Sherman Oaks.
This surge of tension came after the SAG-AFTRA team had already been upset by the AMPTP’s move to surprise them with the federal mediators. That frustrated Drescher and Crabtree-Ireland so much that the two spent time earlier in the day reaching out to at least four top Hollywood executives by phone to deliver an unequivocal message about the union’s resolve to fight for what it feels is a fair deal. Hastily arranged calls were held with Warner Bros.
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