WGA/SAGAFTRA Strike Discussion Thread | SAG Ratifies Contract

[ZattMurdock]

48 minutes ago, SpiderByte said:

TWO DAYS IN A ROW

 

Amen to that.

[Ryan Reynolds]

never gonna end, the majority will never recover from this strike 

[emoviefan]

13 minutes ago, Ryan Reynolds said:

never gonna end, the majority will never recover from this strike 

Stay positive there. 

[ZattMurdock]

 

[filmlover]

The talks are likely to continue until a deal is made. Earlier Hollywood Reporter posted a piece going behind the scenes of the A-list attempt at getting back to the negotiation table and Drescher really does not come out of it looking particularly good. The time to get serious about all of this is now more than ever.

 

How Ben Affleck, George Clooney Lobbied to Resume Actors Strike Talks – The Hollywood Reporter

[Porthos]

7 minutes ago, filmlover said:

The talks are likely to continue until a deal is made. Earlier Hollywood Reporter posted a piece going behind the scenes of the A-list attempt at getting back to the negotiation table and Drescher really does not come out of it looking particularly good. The time to get serious about all of this is now more than ever.

 

How Ben Affleck, George Clooney Lobbied to Resume Actors Strike Talks – The Hollywood Reporter

 

I mean, would you really expect THR to post anything other than something "unflattering" of SAG Leadership right now?

 

Even if it had a large amount of truth to it, THR has every reason in the world to try to... Hmmm... Poison the waters when it comes to SAG's Bargaining Power.

[ZattMurdock]

1 minute ago, Porthos said:

 

I mean, would you really expect THR to post anything other than something "unflattering" of SAG Leadership right now?

 

Even if it had a large amount of truth to it, THR has every reason in the world to try to... Hmmm... Poison the waters when it comes to SAG's Bargaining Power.

I’m gonna say this: I’m 100% on SAG-AFTRA’s side. But I’m not a Fran Drescher fan. And I sincerely doubt that a lot of union members don’t feel that way as well. It doesn’t really matter if they are part of the top echelon or not. I kinda dislike the idea of complete rejection of anything trades say either as part of ‘the enemy’ speaking. It reminds me the kind of talk of certain political leaders that always put into question what is being said as rigged and what not.

 

Drescher deserves acknowledgment and praise if they manage a good deal, but I don’t like the idea of shielding her of any sorts of criticism and creating a paranoia sentiment from the trades. Yeah they speak through studios, but we need someone credible doing the reporting. If anything, this shows that there is a necessity for more independent trade reporting, but what we have in place shouldn’t be discredited just to ‘stick to the man’. The public is with SAG-AFTRA, not with the studios. But absolutely no one is free of criticism.

[filmlover]

17 minutes ago, Porthos said:

 

I mean, would you really expect THR to post anything other than something "unflattering" of SAG Leadership right now?

 

Even if it had a large amount of truth to it, THR has every reason in the world to try to... Hmmm... Poison the waters when it comes to SAG's Bargaining Power.

It was mostly this part that had me chuckling:

 

Quote

Before talks had broken off, sources say, the four CEOs who attended SAG-AFTRA’s negotiations had been taken aback by Drescher’s negotiating style, which involved bringing a doll (a heart-shaped plush toy with a smiley face given to Drescher by an 11-year-old fan) and saying Buddhist inspirational quotes. She also alarmed the CEOs when she proclaimed, “I don’t care if we are here for a year” in order to achieve the union’s ends, sources maintain, which a union source denies. A source close to the union explains that Drescher uses a “less contentious” bargaining process and tries to bring the tone down in the room on occasion.

 

As someone who has seen every episode of The Nanny (guilty as charged), I can't claim I would be surprised if the Miss Fine personality was how she approached business meetings.  But after the fiery Fran from earlier this summer when the strike commenced, it does feel like she's been losing that goodwill in recent weeks from some of the headlines (and the bad press the guild really didn't need) about SAG-AFTRA that they themselves are responsible for.

[Porthos]

18 minutes ago, ZattMurdock said:

I’m gonna say this: I’m 100% on SAG-AFTRA’s side. But I’m not a Fran Drescher fan. And I sincerely doubt that a lot of union members don’t feel that way as well. It doesn’t really matter if they are part of the top echelon or not. I kinda dislike the idea of complete rejection of anything trades say either as part of ‘the enemy’ speaking. It reminds me the kind of talk of certain political leaders that always put into question what is being said as rigged and what not.

 

Drescher deserves acknowledgment and praise if they manage a good deal, but I don’t like the idea of shielding her of any sorts of criticism and creating a paranoia sentiment from the trades. Yeah they speak through studios, but we need someone credible doing the reporting. If anything, this shows that there is a necessity for more independent trade reporting, but what we have in place shouldn’t be discredited just to ‘stick to the man’. The public is with SAG-AFTRA, not with the studios. But absolutely no one is free of criticism.

 

The point is, highly critical pieces of Fran in the press right now can be seen as an attempt to weaken SAG's bargaining power at a critical juncture of talks.

 

And I'm not even in the "The Trades are the mouthpieces of the AMPTP" camp as that is in fact a step too far for me.  More than a step, actually.

 

But I liken it to vaguely pro-Trump or anti-Biden commentary currently circulating in the National US Press.  There are... let's call them "financial incentives" to gently put a thumb on the scale when it comes to reporting of stories.  This can even be Unconscious Bias at play where folks either "strive to be fair" and over-report stories that they are nominally hostile so they don't appear to be biased to being more inclined to report on stories they know will lead to more clicks in the future.

 

Matt Yeglieas has a running bit on this when it comes to Trump/Biden coverage:

 

 

And while I think he, as is sometimes typical, overstates the case on Twitter, there is indeed some Unexamined Bias at play in the National Press.  Most prominently in when it comes to Reporting on the State of the Economy*.

* Which is a whole nother set of rants from Yours Truly, but that is soooo far off topic that I'll spare y'alls.

 

That Unexamined Bias is more than enough for me to archly make a comment or three. 

 

(I would also add that Fran just won re-election overwhelmingly so you're/SAG is stuck with her for a while)

 

It's not about "shielding" Fran, in other words, but raising an eyebrow or three at the timing.  As well as recognizing that even without having to resort to claiming that the Trades are having their strings pulled like a marionette, there are in fact incentives to report on certain storylines right now.

 

Not that I want to overstate all of this.  More just explaining a bit where I am coming from.

 

(I'm not gonna start singing Internationale in other words — but this is about where my inherent skepticism/cynicism starts doing the Fry Stare Meme at the press) 

Edited October 25, 2023 by Porthos

[ZattMurdock]

Quote

The leadership of SAG-AFTRA was buoyed on Saturday, when Disney CEO Bob Iger called Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, the union’s top negotiator, to invite the guild back to the table.

But the union has also faced significant pressure in the last week to bring the strike to an end. Several A-listers, led by George Clooney, presented an alternate set of proposals to union leadership that was meant to help resolve the strike. But the union rejected those ideas, saying they would not work.

Zachary Quinto, star of “Star Trek” and “Margin Call,” recorded anInstagram video on Monday urging members to support leadership, because “solidarity is the only way we are going to get what we are asking for in this negotiation.”

“I know that everyone is tired. I know we’ve been at this for over 100 days,” Quinto said. “But we have got to stay together as a union. Our job as the membership of a union is to support our leadership and to get behind them. If we start calling into question their tactics, their motives — if we start trying to take matters into our own hands, we are weakening our position and we are playing directly into the desires of the AMPTP. It is exactly what they want — for us to start to question one other and to question our leadership.”

 

 

 

[Jonwo]

Interesting that the trades pile on Fran but not Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. I am wondering if Fran's refusal to back down is the problem.

[filmlover]

Just now, Jonwo said:

Interesting that the trades pile on Fran but not Duncan Crabtree-Ireland. I am wondering if Fran's refusal to back down is the problem.

Cause Crabtree-Ireland isn't famous like Drescher is. The bigger the name, the easier the target is how it usually works.

[Cappoedameron]

Also there are some actors that have spoken up and said Duncan Crabtree is a lot more level headed then Fran whom on the John Campea show the SAG actress on their claims she is way too emotional and lets them get the best of her.

[Jonwo]

I get the feeling that keeping Fran out of the room would probably get a deal done within days. 

[joselowe]

1 hour ago, Jonwo said:

I get the feeling that keeping Fran out of the room would probably get a deal done within days. 

Yeah but it would likely be a deal that would upset actors that aren’t huge stars. She is fighting for the little guy.

[ZattMurdock]

 

 

 

 

[Cappoedameron]

SAG gotta let this shit go, you're not gonna get a 2% cut of the profits, hell I wouldn't even do .050. I'd give them .025% and that's only for the successful ones.

 

You should not get crap for the garbage shows that bomb, that's ridiculous. They're asking for revenue share regardless of shows performance, that's not happening. 

[Jonwo]

Fran going on about masculine energy is eye rolling and a bit offensive to female CEOs like Donna Langley. 

 

 

[21C]

9 hours ago, filmlover said:

Cause Crabtree-Ireland isn't famous like Drescher is. The bigger the name, the easier the target is how it usually works.

 

Or she's uniquely bad at her job. 

[WittyUsername]

Is it reasonable at this point to say that the WGA conducted themselves better than SAG is doing?