SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher has come under fire for tense negotiations over a union deal with a major film company after traveling to Italy over the weekend to attend a promotional event for Dolce & Gabbana.
SAG-AFTRA stressed that Mr Drescher was still engaged in negotiations despite traveling abroad. A photo of Drescher posing with Kim Kardashian surfaced on social media on Monday through Kardashian’s Instagram account. This week, as the Motion Picture and Television Producers Guild and the Motion Picture and Television Producers Alliance face a deadline to roll out three new agreements at midnight PT on July 12, actors, writers It provoked a heated response from other members of Hollywood’s creative community. – Year contract. Without a deal, unions are expected to launch their first industry-wide strike since 1980.
Unlike other elected union chairs, Mr. Drescher also chairs the SAG-AFTRA Contract Negotiations Committee. She has worked closely with SAG-AFTRA’s National Secretary and Chief Negotiator, Duncan Crabtree Ireland, to plan agendas and demands in a rapidly changing economic landscape for the entertainment industry. rice field.
Late Monday, SAG-AFTRA defended Drescher’s decision to take an impromptu trip as part of her longtime “brand ambassador” job for the Italian luxury fashion line.
“President Drescher works as a brand ambassador for Dolce & Gabbana on location in Italy. President Drescher manages a physically demanding schedule across three time zones, oversees negotiations, works locally every day, and attends to the needs of his parents. [Florida].She’s back in America and will be on the ground in LA tomorrow. [July 11]and will continue to chair the negotiations,” SAG-AFTRA said in a statement.
Hollywood’s creative community has been in a state of tension since May 2, when the Writers Guild of America went on strike for the first time since 2007. It’s because of Kardashian’s rise to fame as a reality TV star that Drescher and Kardashian’s image has kicked a hornet’s nest among industry insiders. , most recently entered the screenwriting world with a role in FX’s American Horror Story. And since that particular show is one of the few that has remained in production in recent weeks after strikes on WGA members in New York and Los Angeles strategically forced studios to stop production, the WGA and Its SAG-AFTRA supporters are in the crosshairs. Completed script for film adaptation. Impressive writers set up picket lines targeting soundstage and location shoots to deter teamsters and IATSE crews from crossing picket lines to get to work.
Meanwhile, Kardashian has kept track of her work on “AHS” on millions of social media outlets, providing clear evidence that the show continues to be produced after other shows have been forced to cancel. showing.
Drescher’s trip to Puglia in southern Italy also drew ridicule from management at the Hollywood negotiating table. “How tone deaf people are,” quipped an AMPTP member studio executive.
