Who is Fran Drescher, the ‘nanny’ who leads the Hollywood actors’ strike

Pietro Baragiola
Thursday 13 July American Actors Union Sag-Aftra (born from the merger Screen Actors Guild AndAmerican Federation of Television and Radio Artists) named one mass strike after the collapse of negotiations withAMPTP Extension (Film and Television Producers Alliance), an association representing the leading studios in the American television and film industry.

The movement is led by a Jewish actress Fran Drescherfamous sitcom protagonist Nanny and now president of Sag-Aftra.

“What happens in this industry is important because it applies to every workplace,” Drescher said at a press conference. Screen Actors Guild aimed at explaining the main reasons for the strike: the guarantee of a new protection of royalties in the streaming industry and the respectful use of artificial intelligence.

By joining this demonstration to the protest Writers Guild of AmericaThis For the first time since 1960, actors and screenwriters are on strike together on the streets of Hollywood. and here they intend to remain until an agreement is reached that is valid for both categories.

American TV Jewish Nanny

Born in 1957 in New York City to European Jewish parents, Fran Drescher grew up in the Queens area, where, while attending Hillcrest High School, she met Peter Mark Jacobsonher future husband, with whom in 1993 she will write a sitcom that will bring her international success: Nanny.

The show, which aired on CBS from 1993 to 1999, tells the story of a charismatic and cheerful Jewish woman. Fran Fine

(played by Drescher) who is hired by widower Maxwell Sheffield to babysit his three children, setting off a series of out-of-control hilarious events.

Although the title role turned Drescher into an American comedy star, her vision met with several obstacles. CBS top management essentially wanted make Fran Fine Italian instead of Jewish to avoid religious controversy, but the actress resisted this to the end.

“I knew this character had to be a lot like me and all the wacky personalities I grew up with,” Drescher said in an interview with the magazine. Los Angeles Magazine explaining how thanks to him impudence and with the encouragement of her husband, she managed to get CBS to keep Fran Fine’s Jewish identity by making her so. the first Jewish lead role since Molly Goldberg to be played by a Jewish actress.

Fran Fine is an irreverent Judaism, rich in comedic sketches and Yiddish teachings, but not ignoring even the typical stereotypes of New York Jews with their loudness and difference from the crowd.

However, many of these characteristics were lost when some countries, despite the protests of the actress, decided to adapt the character to the culture of their viewers: in Italy, Fran Fine became Ciociara Francesca Cacace and Yiddish words were changed to the Frosinone dialect. These changes tragically ended up creating major inconsistencies and plot twists: Hanukkah scenes were replaced with Nativity celebrations and hidden or suppressed Jewish customs.

Nevertheless Nanny managed to quickly become global success able to interact with audiences from different cultures and countries and receive several nominations for the Emmy, Saturn and Golden Globe awards. Today it has been made into a Broadway musical, and there are rumors of a possible TV remake.

“A show that’s still so popular after a quarter of a century isn’t so bad,” Drescher said enthused.

Actors strike

On September 5, 2021, Fran Drescher officially became President Sag-AftraUnited States Film, Television and Radio Performers Union.

In recent weeks, this alliance has had to deal with the non-renewal of agreements withFilm and Television Producers Alliance signed in July 2020 and this resulted in Drescher driving 160,000 actors

in the biggest showbiz strike in 60 years.

One of the highlights of this event is the request for different royalty accrual system in streaming services: Movies and series are currently available without time limits on online platforms, and this has destroyed the concept of “television replay” from which actors and screenwriters received royalties. For this reason, the protesters are demanding a new revenue system that takes into account audience data for their streaming projects, but the studios responsible for these platforms (Netflix, Amazon and Disney) refuse to share this data.

Another topic for discussion wants ensure that artificial intelligence does not replace the role of actors and that it is definitively established who owns the artist’s image if it is played by AI.

Duncan Crabtree-IrelandSag-Aftra’s chief negotiator, was outraged by the studio’s new offer to bring a touch of innovation: “They offered to scan additional material and pay them for a day’s work, after which they own this scan and can use it. as much as you like on any project, without consent and remuneration.

These responses inevitably sparked protests from 160,000 union members, including many celebrities such as Meryl Streep, Charlize Theron and Ewan McGregor. Even George Clooney he called the strike “a turning point”.

However, the consequences of this demonstration today are becoming more and more alarming: not only are the scenery blocked, but the actors participating in the strike are forced to no longer participate in the promotion of their projects, both in previews and TV interviews and even less on their social profiles. For this reason, on July 13, during the London premiere of Christopher Nolan’s new masterpiece, Oppenheimerthe main characters of the film left the red carpet at eight in the evening to support the protest in Los Angeles that came into force at that time.

If an agreement is not reached soon, the consequences of the strike could be very damaging to the film industry. postponement or even cancellation of ceremonies belonging Emmy Award and 80th Venice Film Festival.

Jewish leaders of historic strikes

When her speech went viral, Fran Drescher entered the list of Jewish women who made history fighting for labor rights.

Many these days compared the actress with a modern Clara Lemlich

, a Jewish worker who initiated a protest in 1909 that inspired 60,000 garment factory workers to strike for minimum legal standards for working conditions in the factory. Like Lemlich, Drescher also used Yiddish terms in his address to the crowd, saying he waited a long time for a response from Hollywood studios only to get “beeches“(null).

Among other well-known Jewish women who entered the history of labor rights, we remember Rose Schneiderman and its fire safety legislation e Randy Weingartentoday’s leaderAmerican Federation of Teachersthe second largest teachers’ union in America.

“These are women who stood up when they saw injustice at work,” she said. Pamela Nadelldirector of the Jewish Studies Program at the American University in Washington.

It is this sense of justice that Fran Drescher draws inspiration from the Sag-Aftra strike, stating that from an early age she learned to “improve what is, not accept what is.”

“If we don’t get up now, we will all be in trouble soon. We are all in danger of being replaced by machines and big business that care more about Wall Street than about you and your families,” the actress concluded in her speech. “The eyes of the whole world are on us. What’s happening here is important.”