SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher resurfaced the union’s 118-day strike in remarks at the union’s awards ceremony Saturday night, saying that during the work stoppage, union members are “on track for generations to come.” “We have set up the following.”
In his speech at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards, Drescher called the actors union’s roughly 160,000 members the night’s “champions.” “With courage and conviction, you survived the longest strike in our union’s history. The journey was extremely difficult and involved great sacrifice and constant stress,” she said. Ta. “Your solidarity ignited workers around the world and sparked an event that will forever be remembered as the Hot Summer of Labor.” She added, “This is a seminal event in the history of our union. “It was a moment that set a trajectory for generations to come: brave instead of fearful, strong instead of weak, partner instead of bull,” he added.
She also criticized the AI addressed in SAG-AFTRA’s 2023 TV/Theatrical deal, saying it would “lock us in a matrix where no one knows what’s true.” Rather, she said, “we should tell stories that inspire the human spirit, connect us to the natural world, and awaken our capacity to love unconditionally.”
The 2023 actors’ strike was still fresh in the minds of nominees, presenters and union officials at the Screen Actors Guild Awards on Saturday. He pointed out that last year was a difficult year due to the strikes. luther Actor Idris Elba said in his opening monologue, “I salute and thank everyone here and back home for their solidarity and support for SAG-AFTRA.”
Awarded Best Performance by a Cast at the Film Awards oppenheimer, Kenneth Branagh said the SAG-AFTRA ceremony was a “full circle moment” for the ensemble, as the cast walked out due to a then-planned strike during the film’s London premiere on July 14, 2023. . “Thank you, thank you, SAG-AFTRA, thank you, thank you for fighting for us. Thanks to the support of SAG-AFTRA members and their sacrifices, we stand here better than before.” ” he said.
On the red carpet, Lomen: Bass Reeves Star David Oyelowo has emphasized his joy of returning to work after the end of the union strike on November 9, 2023. “That’s the thing. You don’t know what you have until it’s gone,” he said. hollywood reporter. “So there’s a certain amount of gratitude, of course, to be able to go back and do what I love.” “I think in moments like this, when we were all together in this thing as actors, it was very galvanizing and brought people together again as a community in a broader sense.” . Hopefully, I can hold on to that a little bit. ”
inheritance Star Alan Ruck added that the biggest lesson he learned from the strike was “just standing up for what you believe in. If something is wrong, you have to say something about it.”
Abbott Elementary School actor Chris Perfetti said: “We’ve had a great year and we’re still celebrating here. There’s so much to celebrate. Everyone is dressed up and carrying on as usual. It’s kind of emotional. It feels good,” he said, adding that the strike “reinforced the fact that this business and any endeavor as an artist is a roller coaster.”
SAG-AFTRA Executive Vice President Linda Powell served as vice chair of the 2023 Television and Theater Negotiations Committee and had a ringside seat in the negotiations. On her red carpet, Powell spoke about the energy at the SAG Awards: I’ll go into this. She went on to say, “One of the big things we talked about throughout the strike was the importance of the humanity that we bring into the room when we go to work. Tonight we’re honoring the people who bring the humanity to these films.” I praise you,” he added.
The 2024 SAG Awards were held at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Hall in Los Angeles and streamed live on Netflix just over three months after the SAG-AFTRA strike ended.