Why the Screen Actors Guild agreed to end a strike that crippled Hollywood

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• Geoff Bennett:

  The actors union SAG-AFTRA has reached a tentative deal with the Hollywood studios, ending the longest strike for TV and film actors in history.

  The deal, worth more than $1 billion, includes new levels of minimum compensation, bonuses tied to streaming and the first protections against artificial intelligence.

  SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher joins us now.

  Welcome back to the "NewsHour."

• Fran Drescher, President, SAG-AFTRA:

  Thank you. I'm happy to be here.

• Geoff Bennett:

  You have described this as an historic agreement. In what ways?

• Fran Drescher:

  Well, we — first of all, we broke through the billion-dollar mark, so that's a crowning achievement.

  And we developed protections and language and consent and compensation in the area of artificial intelligence that never existed before. We broke a brand-new stream of revenue for people on the streaming platforms that never existed before. So that's additional money. We broke pattern with the other two unions, the WGA and the DGA. So we got more minimum wage growth than they did, which is unusual and unprecedented.

  And we got an amazing deal for our lowest-earning members, who are our background performers. We got all kinds of new things that have never been in the contract before, because of the way we — the digital age has impacted our industry.

  So, even when it comes to auditions and interviews on home self-tapes, that has to be redefined. And we're still working on that, but at least we got some improvements there for those people, because everything needed to have regulations put into it. People don't do the right thing unless they're forced to.

  And as Frederick Douglass said, power concedes nothing without demands. So, we — that's what this was all about. We knew it was a historic time because of the digitization of our industry, and we knew that we needed a seminal deal. And I feel very proud to say we got one.

• Geoff Bennett:

  A question about streaming, because, as I understand it, the union had to compromise fairly significantly on streaming. The union wanted 1 or 2 percent of revenue of streaming shows and ultimately settled for less.

  Tell us more about that compromise.

• Fran Drescher:

  Well, we settled for different, more than for less, because that was — first, we identified that there was a very real problem between this new model of exhibition and how it could never be properly compensated for with the old contract.

• Geoff Bennett:

  If I can ask, what's a model of exhibition?

• Fran Drescher:

  Oh, well, like the streaming platforms, the shows that show on streaming.

  That means that, if your show is made for a streaming platform, you're never going to get the kind of residuals that you would if you were on, let's say, network television.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Right.

• Fran Drescher:

  Because there's not a — you don't get paid in the same way with reruns. You don't have syndication money. And so our members were feeling that, as more and more shows were getting produced on streaming platforms.

  So the actual structure of the contract had to change. And they were reticent to do it. And I said to their faces, I want you to understand why this is important, because maybe you don't. And then, after I tell you this, I want you to understand that this is a deal-breaker.

  And so I think that they really understood that. They — I was being very honest with them.

• Geoff Bennett:

  As this deal reached the finish line, artificial intelligence remained one of the most complicated issues to resolve.

  How do these new protections benefit actors?

• Fran Drescher:

  Well, when you start out in an environment where they don't have to ask your permission, and now they have to, that's a huge difference. That speaks volumes.

  That means that you're in control of your likeness. You're in control of if you want to be duplicated, if you want some kind of a synthetic version of you on screen. And that puts a lot of control back into the performer's hands, because the performer's likeness, the performer's performance, everything that makes them, them, I think that there was quite a bit of back-channeling to get the messaging across that, without this, we're going to protract the strike.

  It's as simple as that, because, in A.I., three months is equivalent to a year. So, without the protections that we absolutely felt we needed, there was no way that we were going to sign a three-year contract, because, three years from now, the whole idea of it is going to be a completely different animal.

  And if we don't put a saddle on that wild pony now and pull in the reins, we're never going to be able to catch it.

• Geoff Bennett:

  This deal comes 118 days, nearly four months after the strike started. I was going to ask you, was it worth the wait? It seems like the answer to that, from your point of view, is yes.

  But I will rephrase the question differently. Could you have arrived at this deal any earlier, or did it just take time for people to test the leverage points that they thought they had?

• Fran Drescher:

  Well, I think that there was a lot of that.

  First of all, when you — from the beginning, I think that they needed to adjust to the fact that we are a union that was at a point where we had the largest strike authorization in our history. And the leadership, meaning myself and Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, were new to them in our roles, and we were no pushovers, and we were not going to be intimidated.

  So, once they had that rude awakening, then there had to be adjustments. They walked away from the table at one point, but that intimidation tactic did not work for us. And then they would take a week, at least, before they'd come back with even a supposal, let alone a counter, once they did come back.

  And then, on my side, patience — patience and time is the secret sauce. And we never felt a need to rush in order to come to a conclusion of what needed to happen. And, as a result of that, we remained in unity. And, as a result of that, when we finally got that last piece of A.I. in place and the last piece needed for the streaming platform new revenue source, then we were ready to make a motion and pass without objection.

  And that is what happened. And that, in itself, is historic.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Fran Drescher is the president of the actors union SAG-AFTRA.

  Thanks so much for your time.

• Fran Drescher:

  Thank you. I appreciate it.