00:03:41.120You've talked about how a lot of your early online internet experiences have really shaped
00:03:47.320the person that you would become. I've read about how you didn't have a digital camera because it
00:03:52.720was the 90s, so you were scanning in pictures to make these blogs. Did you ever see this activity
00:03:58.560leading to the career that you have now? No, absolutely not. I mean, I've always been
00:04:05.960techie. I went to computer camp when I was in middle school, and I learned HTML. It was a
00:04:14.580really small camp. There was maybe 20 kids and it was myself and one other girl. It was all boys.
00:04:21.400And my parents were encouraging, but I definitely remember friends and peers saying like,
00:04:29.820what are you doing? Why do you care? I had a website that I updated and no one was reading
00:04:37.680it. It was just me. I had a bootleg of Photoshop that I got from a boy that I had a crush on and
00:04:44.400I was like scanning my art and clipping together photos. It was just purely because I had a love
00:04:51.380for creating things. I didn't know, I could have never imagined where it would lead me to.
00:04:58.200So I really see you and a couple other folks of having this, like, I see y'all as having this
00:05:03.940like very specific kind of trajectory where it was like all of these very creative, very online
00:05:10.140young Black women who were, like, of the culture, of the zeitgeist, who were making content online
00:05:17.080in the early days, right, on platforms like For You, YouTube. And really now, it's like you all
00:05:24.340saw something that other people didn't see, and you got how to use it in a way that not everyone
00:05:29.400did. Like, how did that trajectory work for you in your career? It's so... Thank you for saying
00:05:34.800that. I think that's just always been me. I'll never forget. I think I was in middle school
00:05:42.720and I got a pair of capri pants from a thrift store and I wore them to school and everyone
00:05:49.940was like, what's wrong with you? Your pants are short. You're wearing highwaters. What's
00:05:54.420wrong with you? And then the next year, everyone was wearing capri pants. And I remember being
00:05:59.140like, you bitches all made fun of me, but I had Capri. And I was like mad about it. I was really0.99
00:06:06.200mad. It was like all the Capri sets were very popular. And that moment sticks out in my mind
00:06:13.080because I felt the same way when I've adapted to technology. I was on YouTube my senior year
00:06:20.420of college. I was going to school for graphic design. And I remember making these videos and
00:06:26.360my classmates being like, why? What do you get out of this? I was not making any money. I was not
00:06:32.740getting jobs because of it. It was truly just a hobby. And so I hope that people see that as
00:06:41.440inspiration for themselves. You should follow things, not necessarily because it's a trend,
00:06:48.320but because you have an interest in it and you have to know that when you are following your
00:06:53.320own path, there are always going to be people that don't get it, but it's your path. And that's
00:06:58.220why you are following it. So it's really cool to see where the internet is at now. I mean,
00:07:05.420back in my day, I would have to edit for hours. And now you can go on your phone and you can edit
00:07:12.180green screen in two seconds. I used to have to put up, hang the green screen in my living room
00:07:18.360and make sure it was lit the right way because God forbid there's a shadow on the green screen
00:07:22.520is not going to risk here now. And now you just literally click a button. I feel like a boomer
00:07:29.340saying this, but I truly, it's mind boggling to me. Editing on a phone? Never in my life did I
00:07:36.680think that everyone would be an influencer now. Everyone is a filmmaker. And I think it's really
00:07:43.620cool that it's democratized content creating. It's made it accessible for everyone. And I think
00:07:49.740that's how it should be. Today, Francesca is a successful writer and actor. You've seen her on
00:07:55.740shows like Broad City and Superstore. She's in both the Screen Actors Guild, or SAG, and the
00:08:01.300Writers Guild of America, or WGA. And both unions are currently on strike. Now, even though we might
00:08:07.360have this idea that the actors that we see on screen are all fabulously wealthy, Francesca says
00:08:13.240that it's not really the case. I had a conversation with somebody that I respect recently, and I was
00:08:19.640shocked that some of the things she was saying about the strike I was shocked to hear and it
00:08:25.820was things like well you know when I hear what Hollywood writers are making it seems like good
00:08:30.860money to me like what like why should they be like like why should they be striking like you know
00:08:36.640that's I would love to make that kind of money and I had this realization that I think that people
00:08:41.740might have a misconception that if you are involved in the entertainment industry that
00:08:46.720you're automatically, you're making millions of dollars and you're set.
00:08:51.020It's absolutely not true. I wish it was true.
00:08:54.800Same. I mean, I, you know, I started online and then I got the opportunity to move into TV
00:09:01.760and a big part of my desire to move into TV was looking for stability. And I was very quickly
00:09:09.520surprised to learn that as fortunate as I was to transition into this career, it wasn't as stable
00:09:17.040as I thought it would be. And the money wasn't as good. And once I got into the career, all of my
00:09:22.920peers and coworkers were like, yeah, girl, it's hard out here. That's why we all have 80 jobs.
00:09:28.340That's why you see us on Instagram slinging, you know, teeth whitening strips, like I got to pay
00:09:33.460bills, you know? And the reality is for TV writers and actors, many of us are struggling to make
00:09:42.600ends meet. And the current streaming model is a big part of the problem. There are so many shows,
00:09:49.640there are so many platforms, and the audiences have noticed the change too. All the shows are
00:09:55.320getting shorter. You know, we used to have a show with 22 episodes. Now you might get one with eight
00:10:00.460or six. You're also noticing that more time is transpiring between seasons. So, you know,
00:10:08.560the kids on Euphoria, they've got to be grown by the time the show comes back, right? They were in
00:10:14.880high school and, you know, now he got a five o'clock shadow. That is a man. So all of those
00:10:20.460things are contributing to how much the creators and actors in these programs are getting paid.
00:10:25.880And then because of streaming, we often are not aware that we don't know how many views the shows are getting. So in addition to the residuals from the streamers being laughably low by comparison to network, we don't actually know how much we're being screwed.
00:10:48.160They're like, here, just take this. And so the strike is essentially asking the networks to
00:10:55.000have transparency with us. We want to make sure that the money that we are making off of our work
00:11:01.760is reflective of how the work is doing. Because if it takes a year and a half before I get staffed
00:11:09.040on a show again, I should be making a portion of the profits that the show that I worked on
00:11:14.640is going to collect for the network and the CEOs. And the reality is, I don't believe any CEO
00:11:21.960deserves a $24 million salary when the writers and actors on the show are struggling to get
00:11:31.020qualified for their health insurance. That's just the reality. And so yes, it is frustrating that
00:11:38.240people have this misconception about our industry, but that's the reason that you and I are having
00:11:43.400this conversation. And so many writers and performers are getting candid about the realities
00:11:49.200of our situation. There's a level of expectation that they have that is just not realistic. And
00:11:55.040they are adding to a set of challenges that this business is already facing that is quite frankly
00:12:01.120very disruptive. So they're not being realistic? No, they're not. That's Bob Iger, the CEO of
00:12:06.280Disney. And he's talking about writers. You know, the actual people who do the work to make the
00:12:11.500things that he sells that make him rich. And frankly, I gotta say, it sounds like a pretty
00:12:16.800sweet grift to me. Bob Iger, who CNN reports is one of the highest paid CEOs in all of entertainment,
00:12:23.700can tell the people whose work makes him millions of dollars a year that they're the ones who are
00:12:28.840being unrealistic when they ask for better treatment and better pay. This is kind of a
00:12:34.040spicy take, and I'm curious for your thoughts. It's gotta be some kind of a scam, right? Because
00:12:40.680I was watching that interview, I think it was Ted Sardonos, the CEO from Netflix, and he was like,
00:12:45.860the writers are just not being realistic. Oh, it was Bob Iger. Bob Iger. And I was like,
00:12:52.880yeah, I'm sure that the dynamic where like, you make $50 million a year from the labor and the
00:13:00.020creativity and the talent of other people, like maybe that, is it possible that maybe that's not
00:13:05.460That's not realistic, sir. You never hung a light. You never wrote a script. You never did
00:13:10.660a rewrite. You ain't learned no lines. Like, this is not a spicy take. Like, what do you do,
00:13:16.100sir? Like quickly tell me what you do. Yeah, it is. It's, it is just so that, that, that interview,
00:13:25.040I made a video about that because it was so like laughable and just showed how out of touch he was
00:13:32.700to say those things. And I think that is a big crux of this issue. And you're seeing this
00:13:38.200with labor across the country, whether you work at UPS or whether you're a teacher or whether you're
00:13:45.120in healthcare, where oftentimes the people at the top don't understand the realities of
00:13:50.220the work, blood, sweat, and tears that their workers are putting into the business that
00:13:55.960sustains them. Whether you are working on the assembly line at Amazon, or if you are staying
00:14:01.460end up late doing rewrites on a script because they shoot tomorrow, you know? And so it's easy
00:14:08.100for the people at the top to say, oh, it's not realistic. It's not realistic to wait nine months
00:14:14.000between me getting paid for a job that I did successfully. And when we asked the studios,
00:14:19.480hey, you guys are historically late on payments. The studio's response was, well, we think paying
00:14:25.100on time would you know it wouldn't incentivize the writers sir i gotta pay my bills one of the
00:14:32.520things i saw that i like i like screenshotted it because i couldn't believe it was true where it
00:14:36.380was like the studios acknowledge that they do not pay on time and they also say that having
00:14:41.640penalties to to involved will also not make them pay on time so you're you're you're not gonna pay
00:14:47.820i'm just not gonna pay it's just not it's just not going to happen and and again to your point
00:14:53.300about your friend, I think people see the big numbers and they're like, oh my gosh,
00:14:57.940this person got paid $100,000 for a script. Amazing. If the deal doesn't close for a year
00:15:03.680or two years, that's two years that you are waiting to get paid that money. And in that time,
00:15:09.020you still are having to pay your bills. Okay. Great. You made this money on a script. You don't
00:15:14.240get paid it all at front. It gets paid to you in thirds. You get a third when you start the job,
00:15:19.460you get a third when you turn that first draft in, and you get a third when you turn that last
00:15:23.160draft in. One of the things that we are asking for is hard timelines on that. Because what happens
00:15:30.800is you turn that script in and they go, we don't really like it. You got to do another draft. And
00:15:35.880you're like, okay, do I get paid? No, no, no. You got to do another draft. We'll tell you when
00:15:41.200we're happy with the draft. It can take you months to another year to write that draft.
00:15:46.960And you are just hoping that on the other end, they're going to decide that it's good enough
00:15:51.120for you to get paid. And then you still have to pay your agent, your manager, your lawyer,
00:15:57.080your business manager, and you got to set aside money for taxes. And you still have to pay all
00:16:02.680your other bills. And then if the movie or show goes on to make billions for the studio,
00:16:07.780you get nothing? I mean, the math is literally not nothing for me.
00:16:14.680I still think there's a grift happening because the fact that the streaming model does not have
00:16:20.040transparency into the numbers. I think any kind of situation where there is not transparency around
00:16:26.780numbers, someone is cheating somebody, somebody is being scammed. What's going on there?
00:16:31.400Oh, yes. I agree. I think it's one of two things or maybe a little bit of both.
00:16:37.980I think that the streamers have realized that they shot themselves in the foot by
00:16:43.420the arms race for everybody to have a platform. There are too many places to watch content.
00:16:50.040And the reality is the numbers, I think, on their end are not what they're saying that they are.
00:16:56.660And so, you know, every week Netflix is like, this show has blown numbers out of the water.
00:17:03.000Every week there's a new record being set.
00:17:10.940On the other end, I think that they don't potentially want to tell us the numbers because
00:17:15.760if they did tell us the numbers, we would know how much we were being screwed.
00:17:19.440So again, I think it's a little bit of both. And that if the shareholders, for example, knew how low the signups were, knew how low the numbers were on some of these shows, it would really potentially negatively affect these streamers. I guess their reasoning is because they are operating as tech companies in addition to studios, the numbers are proprietary information.
00:17:56.520Yeah, that like, I mean, this is something that I find frustrating, but also confusing
00:18:01.240is that it was the networks who chose to sort of pivot to the streaming model.
00:18:05.740And now that is the same model that they're blaming to be like, well, we can't pay people.
00:18:10.180We can't give you transparency because of this model that we all pivoted to.
00:18:14.460Like, it's a very frustrating dynamic.
00:18:16.040Right. But Bob Iger can still make $24.2 million a year. Why is it that the people at the top can continue to profit? And again, this is not just unique to the film and television industry. We are seeing labor being taken advantage of across all industries.
00:18:37.680And the thing that I keep telling people is if you are seeing the writer strike and the actor strike and thinking, I don't make as much money. I should be making more money. I agree. You should be making more money too. Your labor should be respected. You should be able to purchase a home after you've worked somewhere for X amount of years. You should be able to afford rent in the city that you live in off of the salary that you make.
00:19:05.860I don't care if you work in a fast food restaurant or if you are a secretary or if you wash cars.
00:19:12.020You should be able to make a living off of your work because somebody else is making a living0.57
00:19:16.860off of your work. This crabs in a barrel mentality is helping none of us. My paycheck is not taking
00:19:23.160money out of teacher's pockets. It's not. And absolutely, teachers should be paid better.
00:19:29.160So my hope, and I am taking solace in seeing the solidarity that's happening across industries
00:19:34.600and from people outside of the entertainment community that it's creating a level of class
00:19:41.480consciousness we haven't seen before where people are saying we deserve and demand more
00:19:48.640and I believe we should get it. And when it comes to the writers and actors, I believe we will.
00:19:54.460I think that that tide is kind of shifting a little bit because in the beginning of the strike,
00:19:58.800the sort of thing I heard so often was like, well, teachers don't make that much.
00:20:02.760And it's something we talk about a lot on the show is like teaching the same forces are actively deprofessionalizing and devaluing teaching as a career and turning it into like a gig commodity.
00:20:15.420So if you're angry about the teachers, you should be angry about the writers as well because it's the same dynamic that is turning the work into a commodity.
00:26:11.020Clearly nobody is asking for like, I want a private jet every year and a million dollars.
00:26:15.120It's like, no, it's just the ability to, to like live, to just like, it shouldn't, it shouldn't be a precarious, such a precarious situation just to live.
00:26:27.220You, you, you, you're wanting to work and be able to like exist from that work.
00:26:31.600Like that shouldn't be asking that much.
00:26:36.760And again, I really encourage anyone who is confused about what we're asking for with the WGA or with SAG, all of our proposals are outlined very clearly on the website, sagafterstrike.org, wgacontract2023.org.
00:26:56.480And you can see what we asked for, and you can see how the studio's countered.
00:27:01.920And I really appreciate both of my unions because they have been so clear and transparent
00:33:44.940You offer up some things that you think we're never going to get this, but we're going to
00:33:48.520use it as leverage for other things because this thing is really important to us.
00:33:52.140and both sides have to make concessions. That's just what happens. And again, I really believe
00:34:02.160that the AI stuff is important, but my hope and our belief in the negotiations process
00:34:08.880is that we'll come to an agreement that is suitable for both parties. And as is,
00:34:15.000no regulations on AI is not okay for writers and it's definitely not okay for actors.
00:34:20.340And yes, and we are in a time right now where more and more writers, Sarah Silverman just recently joined this group, are suing like ChatGPT and OpenAI for copyright infringement for just like taking their intellectual property and being like, oh, it's mine now.
00:34:41.500So the idea that you don't need any guardrails concurrently happening while people are literally in court talking about, actually, AI stole my copyrighted material, it just doesn't work.
00:34:53.740It's like, obviously, there need to be some guardrails.
00:34:56.400That's why these people are in court right now.
00:35:00.480Yeah. And the fact that they didn't want to counter in any meaningful way, to me, that says that they have plans to use this technology. For example, the 2007 strike was largely around the usage of our work with the internet.
00:35:18.980You know, YouTube was pretty new and the WGA was like, oh, we see this internet thing happening.
00:35:25.820Are you going to put our work on the internet?
00:35:27.200And if you do, are we going to get any money for this?
00:38:03.100Earlier this year, actor Kimiko Glenn shared the residuals that she made from the hit Netflix show Orange is the New Black that explored life in a women's prison.
00:38:12.240The amounts were just a few cents per episode, adding up to a whopping $27.
00:38:18.280She wasn't alone. Her fellow castmates shared just how little they made from the show.
00:38:23.600Beth Dover, who played one of the prison's owners, said that in the end, she really didn't make anything because she didn't live where the show was filmed.
00:38:31.580So she had to spend what little money she did make paying to fly herself out to shoot.
00:38:36.880So back in the day, Netflix was just a DVD rental company.
00:38:40.880They'd send you loose DVDs slipped into these red and white sleeves in the mail,
00:38:45.380and maybe you'd never get around to watching the movie,
00:38:47.920but also you'd forget to send it back,
00:38:49.440so you'd just be paying to keep a copy of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World on loan.
00:38:53.840But when Netflix announced they were going to start making their own content
00:38:57.020and introduced streaming, they were on to something big.
00:39:00.700And Orange is the New Black was the show that helped them do it
00:39:03.100and helped them compete with cable giants.
00:39:06.300Orange is the New Black was a runaway smash success.
00:39:09.860You just kind of had to be there to understand
00:39:12.120how big of a cultural phenomenon it was.
00:39:15.140Hackers stole the first few episodes of season five
00:43:53.940You could watch, I remember getting my first iPhone and being able to watch movies on the
00:44:00.160train and just thinking like, this is so cool.
00:44:03.800I can watch a show on my 30 minute commute to work. And I hadn't been able to do that before.
00:44:12.360But there were more places for people to get work. It wasn't just the big networks. Now you could
00:44:19.980be in a web series. You could be on a show on Netflix and more people were getting to see it.
00:44:29.060So I think it makes sense that people were excited about that. And a show like Orange is the New
00:44:33.160Black specifically was employing such a diverse cast, from Laverne Cox to Danielle Brooks and
00:44:43.040all of these Black women and all these women of color and women of different ages, women that you
00:44:49.520didn't necessarily get to see on TV. So I think we were all excited about that. But when it comes
00:44:57.000to the residual model and the low pay rates, I often remind people that if someone wants to take
00:45:04.460advantage of someone, they're going to find a way to do it. And I don't think that way. So I go from
00:45:12.460a place of like, oh yeah, we're all starting on the same page. We're all going to treat each other
00:45:15.600fairly. But that's because I don't seek to take advantage of people. And essentially what happened
00:45:21.140is there were certain things that our contract did not account for because we could not have
00:45:26.620anticipated where we're at with streaming. And like I said, our contract comes up for negotiation
00:45:32.120every three years. These are things that we wanted to address in 2020, but because of the pandemic,
00:45:37.120everything was already shut down. We had no leverage. We couldn't threaten to strike.
00:45:42.760We were effectively already on strike. Everybody was at home. So these are concerns that we've
00:45:47.980had for quite some time. And again, when you negotiate, you lose certain things.
00:45:53.960So I remember in 2017, we fired our agents over packaging, which is the idea that when you sell a show, your agent could essentially give the studio a deal and say, we're giving you this show and we're also going to give you a bunch of writers from our agency at a discounted rate.
00:49:00.020Like if you don't have a famous name to fall back on, or you're not connected to somebody
00:49:04.680famous, or you're a marginalized person, a person of color, like how do you see these
00:49:09.120demands connecting to the kind of industry or space that you hope to see?
00:49:13.040Yeah. I mean, you hit the nail on the head by talking about nepotism, right? Nepotism is not exclusive to this industry, but the reality is if you have familial connections, if you have money to lean back on, you can wait nine months to get paid for a job.
00:49:32.240you can take an extremely low rate. You can break into the industry because your mom has an agent
00:49:40.700and you can say, mom, I want to work in TV. Can you get me an agent? You already live in Los
00:49:46.960Angeles. You already have a home, a roof over your head. So the things that we're asking for
00:49:53.680are going to make the industry more equitable for everyone. But to your question, it will be
00:49:59.760especially helpful for folks from marginalized identities who are already facing so many
00:50:05.540hurdles in order to get into the industry. If you don't live in New York or LA, for example,
00:50:12.360there are some things in the SAG contract where we're asking for opportunities for actors that
00:50:20.140don't live here. If you are an actor in Atlanta and you are super talented, you should be able
00:50:26.000to audition for a show. And if you book the job, you should not be barred from the job because you
00:50:31.100can't afford to come to LA on short notice and get an apartment and get that plane ticket and do the
00:50:37.900show. If you're the best person with the job, you living in Atlanta should not keep you from getting
00:50:44.080the job, right? So another thing that SAG has been asking for is hair and makeup equity. And those
00:50:53.520are things that pertain to people of color, making sure that when I come to set, they have
00:51:00.240the foundation that's going to match my skin tone, that they have somebody who's going to be able to0.99
00:51:04.140cut my hair, that they have somebody who's going to be able to lay those baby hairs.
00:51:08.680That is not the norm. And it's not saying that we need to make sure we know we can dictate who's
00:51:17.120the makeup artist, who's the hairstylist. We're just saying we want to be part of the conversation.
00:51:21.780That's going to ensure that marginalized folks who are on set, if you're a plus-size person,
00:51:28.040we got to make sure we have the clothes that are going to fit you and are going to make you
00:51:31.740look good and feel comfortable on set. So while the demands, so to speak, are neutral and that
00:51:40.760they are not specific to race and gender and sexuality, oftentimes the people who need those
00:51:48.120specific accommodations who need that access because they don't already have it are folks
00:51:53.300from marginalized identities. You don't want a situation where it's like, oh, for Black women,1.00
00:51:59.400they just pay for their own hair out of pocket if they want their hair to not look a mess, right?1.00
00:52:04.120That's like, yeah. Yes. Yeah. No, I mean, I know when I've been on shows, I have taken care of my
00:52:13.080own hair, either waking up super early and getting a haircut or getting a haircut the day before or
00:52:19.680when I had locks, doing my own hair, going to the hair salon because I had had enough situations
00:52:25.740where the people on set did not know how to take care of me. And it's a harsh reality. I even
00:52:32.980learned how to do my own makeup for that reason. I hired a makeup artist to teach me how to do my
00:52:38.440own makeup so that I could have the right foundation because it's different makeup on
00:52:43.660camera than it is for a weekend out on the town. So I spent my own money to do that because I'd
00:52:51.960had enough times where I had come to set and they said, oh, your skin is beautiful. You don't need
00:52:57.040anything. Oh my God. I've been told the same thing. Listen, I know what I'm working with,
00:53:01.780But when you're on camera with those HD 4K camera, you don't want to see my pores.
00:53:08.600You don't want to see my shiny forehead.
00:56:18.280Whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations, or a community of readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place.
00:56:27.900Listen to Pro Society on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:57:36.300they were like, oh, well, here's why it's, like, actually fine and not scabbing.
00:57:39.500I've seen so much incorrect information floating around the internet like some people saying like
00:57:45.160oh if you like you shouldn't cosplay like I've just seen so much information that is not correct
00:57:52.680and I guess my first question is can you set the record straight but then my second question is
00:57:58.480on top of everything else that you personally are dealing with right now with this strike
00:58:03.100how does it like how did you become the person who was like and on top of everything else I also have
00:58:07.820to like correct people's misinformation about what is and isn't scabbing. Like aren't you doing
00:58:13.240enough right now? You know what I mean? Wow. I feel so seen. Thank you. Thank you for saying
00:58:18.100that. It's really interesting because the WGA has been on strike for a little over 90 days
00:58:25.420and SAG has been on strike for three weeks and I'm a member of both. So when the WGA strike was
00:58:32.200called. I had to cease working on projects. I wasn't really acting in anything, but when the
00:58:38.300SAG strike was called, some of the things that they're asking for is a pause on promoting
00:58:43.940struck work, meaning any work that is produced by the studios. And it was really disheartening
00:58:51.440to see so many people, again, three weeks now, but this was like week one. It was maybe three days.
00:58:58.260There were people that were like, I can't talk about these movies. I'm like, bitch, it's been three days. Like, calm down. I haven't been able to work for months. Months I had to stop working. And again, no one is being forced to do anything. People can do whatever they want.0.99
00:59:16.660but our union rules state for both SAG and WGA that anyone who is potentially seeking future
00:59:24.100membership is being asked to join us in solidarity and not promoting or engaging in struck work.
00:59:30.960What does that mean? That means a movie is coming out. You're not talking about it. You're not
00:59:35.960sharing it. You're not doing the work that the studios would be asking the actors and writers
00:59:39.940to do. When the strike was called, the actors walked off the red carpet. They stopped doing
00:59:45.760the press tour. I stop promoting on social media. The studios are like, we still need people to
00:59:51.600watch these movies. So who are we going to go to? Let's go to the influencers. Hey, can you do
00:59:56.220reviews? Hey, can you be on the red carpet? Hey, we're going to send you a box of goodies so that
01:00:00.280you can talk about it. You are essentially replacing the role of the writers and actors.
01:00:06.740Whether or not you have aspirations to be an actor or writer in the future,
01:00:10.360that's what's happening. You are doing the work that normally we would be contracted to do.
01:00:17.760And what was, again, very frustrating to me was this insistence that, well, I'm going to get mine.
01:00:25.360Absolutely. Get yours. When and if you want to join the union, you are not someone that we are
01:00:30.740going to want to be in community with because you want to work with people that have your back.
01:00:37.140when you are spending 12, 13 hours on set, you want to be surrounded by people that you trust
01:00:43.640and that are of high caliber and are ethical and honest. And if you see the strike as an
01:00:53.260opportunity to get paid, again, do what you got to do. But the reality is people in this business
01:01:00.380are not going to trust you. And so you are essentially saying, well, I now want to join
01:01:06.980the union, but like when it was time to like really buckle down and support us, you couldn't
01:01:11.860do it? Do it? We on week three? Week three? And again, this was like three days into the strike
01:01:21.080when it happened. You know what it reminded me of? It reminded me of when the pandemic started
01:01:25.780and all those celebrities were singing Imagine.
01:01:50.260We also represent podcasters and influencers
01:01:52.900and stunt people and radio DJs and dancers and singers. There are so many different types of
01:02:00.640people, audiobook performers. And I've said this many a time, I was an influencer. I know how those
01:02:08.940checks are. They don't always be checking. And while this industry is not perfect, the reason
01:02:16.420that we are striking is to make it better. The strike is not going to last forever. And when
01:02:20.920the industry comes back, it's going to be better for it. And so if you have aspirations to be a
01:02:27.680part of this industry and or you just believe that we deserve fair pay, we're asking you to
01:02:34.460support us. And I know it's hard. Again, I had to stop working on something that I was working on
01:02:40.060for three years. Three years I've been working on this project and I just had to stop. And I don't
01:02:45.400know when I'll get to go back. I don't know if the project is dead. I don't know if I'll ever get
01:02:49.180paid? I don't know. It sucks. It's not fun. The strike is not meant to be fun. It's meant to be
01:02:56.440disruptive. And in order to do that, we need as much support as possible. So again, if you don't
01:03:03.260want to do it, don't do it. If you're interested in doing it the right way, we just ask you go to
01:03:09.080the website, sagafterstrike.org. All the rules are laid out there for journalists, for influencers,
01:03:14.500for fans. And again, I appreciate the support. Again, I know it's really hard,
01:03:22.720but you do things because they're the right things to do, not because they're the easy
01:03:27.120things to do. Francesca, how can people listening, even if they're not entertainment folks,
01:03:34.520they're inspired by your words and they want to support, what can they do?
01:03:38.580If you're in New York or Los Angeles, we would love to see you on the picket lines. You do not
01:03:42.920have to be in the industry. You can go to the websites, wgacontract2023.org,
01:03:51.420sagafterstrike.org to join us on the picket lines. You can also donate to the Entertainment
01:03:56.500Fund. The Entertainment Fund provides financial assistance for writers, actors, crew members.
01:04:03.440That includes assistants and makeup artists and hairstylists and anybody who is being
01:04:08.720financially impacted by the strike. So you can donate there. SAG-AFTRA also has a strike fund
01:04:15.500that you can donate to via their website. And also just continuing to amplify our message.
01:04:21.620I think oftentimes people want an easy solution. I'm seeing lots of people being like, well,
01:04:26.920should I cancel my subscriptions? No, we're not asking you to do that. We're not asking you. We
01:04:31.820know you want to help, but what you can do is amplify our message, dispel the misinformation
01:04:37.020that people might be sharing or digesting about the strike. Share this podcast episode, for example.
01:04:45.780All of that helps. And again, I appreciate anybody that is standing in solidarity with us. It really
01:04:52.700means a lot. And I have to say, you individually, Francesca, have been such a clear voice. I've
01:04:59.840listened to you on multiple podcasts in preparation for this. I've read multiple interviews. You are
01:05:05.300out here doing the work of helping folks understand what people are asking for, the stakes,
01:05:10.760how they can get involved. And I just really appreciate that you're doing that. Like you
01:05:13.920have been kicking ass at this strike. Thank you so much. I've joked many a0.98
01:05:19.160times that the studio is really fucked up because I ain't got no job now. So my job is the strike.0.96
01:05:24.560And you can, and you make videos that you like something will happen on at 10 o'clock in the
01:05:28.400morning by 11. I see your TikTok. I'm like, she's on it. Yeah. You know, again, this is a weird time,
01:05:34.460but it has been a creatively inspiring time for me. And I think that's really been the silver
01:05:41.680lining is that when you turn your creative passion to a job, it's a double-edged sword
01:05:49.080because you love what you do, but now you're creating by committee. It's like, we got to get
01:05:53.720on a Zoom to talk about, you know, whatever, whatever you submitted. And so there's something
01:05:59.940really freeing about, yeah, something happens at 10, and I'm like, ooh, I have an idea for this,
01:06:04.700and I'm just going to make it. And I don't have to get approval from anybody, and I don't have
01:06:09.740to wait. And the success is not tied to how many views it gets. It doesn't matter if it does a
01:06:16.220million views or 10 views. I liked it. I had a good time making it. People enjoyed it. And so
01:06:21.360it's a success for me. And I have to admit that that was kind of missing from my work in years
01:06:28.220past. And so it has been really nice to just like create with reckless abandon. And my hope is that
01:06:35.440when the strike is over, I can kind of sustain that and infuse that in my paid work because it
01:06:41.340has been really, it's been really fulfilling. Well, that's beautiful. Like what a good,
01:06:46.420what a silver lining. Yeah. Yeah. I try. Shout out to my therapist because she's real good at
01:06:51.500being like, sounds like something positive happened. And I'm like, okay, Shani. Okay. Okay.
01:06:58.220Well, Francesca, you know, I firmly believe that TV and movies are, like, one of the last things we have that are just purely good and that we should get to have good stories and also have the people that make them being treated like human beings and being fairly compensated for what they give us.
01:07:15.340Because, like, we don't have a lot of things that are just purely good anymore.
01:07:18.460And that's, like, one thing that we have.