Fran Drescher: Union boss who turned the tables on Hollywood suits

Fran Drescher may have been “The Nanny” in another life. “I bring my own sense of self, my Buddhist wisdom and a lot of chutzpah.” Initially, entertainment executives anticipated last year’s labor tensions would follow a predictable pattern: Screenwriters, represented by the Writers Guild of America, would strike but eventually lose momentum and turn on one another, creating internal fractures that would prompt union leaders to cave and accept a mediocre deal. ‘I am shocked by the way the people that we have been in business with are treating us.’ — Fran Drescher The studio chiefs underestimated Drescher and SAG-AFTRA chief negotiator Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, who led guild members to the picket lines in mid-July, joining the WGA. In what was dubbed her “Norma Rae” moment, Drescher seemed to channel Sally Field’s Oscar-winning portrayal of a defiant North Carolina textile mill worker turned union organizer. ‘Legislating a woman’s body is trying to put women back in “their place,” because the higher they climb up the ladder, the more they become a threat.’ — Fran Drescher This was your first contract negotiation with the AMPTP.