Fran Drescher Reveals George Clooney’s Response to SAG-AFTRA Deal (Exclusive)

The SAG-AFTRA strike has ended 118 days after the picket signs went up.

The actor’s leader, Fran Drescher stood her ground and joined “Extra’s” Billy Bush on Thursday to talk about the strike and Hollywood getting back to work.

When asked what led to the end of the strike, Fran answered, “It was moving all the way through… We had reached a threshold where we crossed the billion-dollar mark and ended at a [$1,011,000,000], which is quite historic in terms of the size of the contract in this industry.”

The end of this history-making strike follows the end of the strike by directors and writers, who had made deals prior.

The writers and directors got a 5% minimum increase, the actors got a 7% minimum increase, and the background people got an 11% minimum increase.

Fran noted, “When it all adds up, it's quite significant… You know, it wasn't what we wanted as the performers with the background people got, we didn't get that, but we were very happy that our lowest-earning members got the most for their minimum salary.”

She added, “New inroads were carved everywhere. And that's what this moment was really about. It was essential that artificial intelligence be barricaded, with a lot of protections for the members. And, you know, it was very important that we found a new stream of revenue to try and level the playing field when it comes to compensation for the members that work the streaming channels.”

Fran is thinking ahead, saying, “We’re already thinking about what we’re going to be working on for the next contract. In a negotiation, you don’t get everything.”

Drescher is happy with how things went with the deal, saying, “There was so much meat on the bone that we did get. It is such a triumph, such an extraordinary contract with so much in it that makes it meaningful for the lives of all of our members and, really, for generations to come. That was also important, because I think that this is a historic time, and we needed a seminal negotiation to match it.”

Through it all, the big Hollywood stars have been in support.

George Clooney praised Fran for her efforts. She shared, “George Clooney said, ‘I would have bet my house and lost that you couldn't get the deal that you got, that you wouldn’t have gotten past a billion dollars.’ And that just made me so happy.”

Fran also got a call from Tyler Perry, who told her, “I’m so, so proud of you.”

Other big names to reach out to Fran include the “supportive” Bennifer, Ryan Reynolds, Kerry Washington and Emma Stone. She said, “Kerry Washington was so wonderful and brilliant and smart to talk to... Bradley Cooper…he said to me that many, many years ago, when I was still on ‘The Nanny’ and he was working at a hotel… and he maybe brought my bags up to my room with me and we talked the whole way up and he said, ‘I never, ever forgot how kind you were, how much you made me feel seen, and how you talked to me like I was an equal, and I'll never forget that, and I'm just glad I had the opportunity to thank you now.’”

When Billy recalled being with Fran when the strike started, she admitted that she felt “very tired,” but “very relieved and very proud” with the end result. She emphasized, “I feel like we, the negotiating committee, did their job. They did it well, and they, uh, sacrificed much on behalf of the member body, and the member body can be proud of them for doing one hell of a job, the likes of which has never been done. This is three times bigger a contract than the last contract.”

As for what she’d do if she was in front of one of the studio heads, Fran answered, “First of all, I'd give them a hug and I'd say, ‘Thank you.’”

“I understand the way negotiations work, and I understand that we were sitting on opposite sides of a table, and I also live with the wisdom of Frederick Douglass, who said, ‘Power concedes nothing without a demand.’ It never has, and it never will… My job was to make sure that they understood what needed to happen in this negotiation if we were all going to go back to work, and they heard me,” Drescher commented.