Reality Television - the Reality is It's Written

Today there were no picket signs at Warner Bros. Studios. Were writers so weak-willed that a little bit of rain kept them away? Were they afraid they couldn't hold umbrellas and strike signs at the same time? No! The reason that nobody was out picketing WB was that there was a rally up the street on Alameda Street for the Reality TV writers among us.

What? Reality shows have writers, you say? News flash, they do. So do game shows -- somebody has to research all those questions and formulate the questions -- they don't just drop down from the heavens like manna.

Anyway, I know very little about that world, so it was an eye-opener. Reality TV writers are not covered by the WGA, consequently, their employers don't have to pay them health insurance benefits, or provide a pension. Residuals are unheard of. Wages are lower than industry standard -- guess the AMPTP won't be trotting out one of these writers saying they make $230,00 a year. And a typical day is 14-16 hours with no overtime. The typical crew member, covered by a union, gets overtime after 12 hours. You say you get overtime after 8 hours? Welcome to glamorous showbiz.

It's not unheard of for a game show to be covered by the WGA. Jeopardy is. Deal or No Deal is not. When reality TV writers approached FOX studios for health insurance, FOX responded that it wasn't their problem, go talk to the production company. One of the biggest suppliers of Reality TV is Fremantle Media of North America, which makes shows like American Idol, Price Is Right, Next Great American Band, and Temptation. Apparently, Fremantle responds to its employees desire for health insurance by getting rid of the problem: firing the writers who request it.

One reality writer and producer, Kai Bowe, formerly of America's Next Top Model, mentioned that reality TV writers are very aware that studios are using them as strike busters -- that they are being forced to work against the very union they would like to get protected by.

Aaron Solomon ran Temptation for Fremantle until he got tired of working 14-16 hours a day seven days a week trying to get 170 hours of programming done and into their schedule with unpaid overtime and quit.

In front of Fremantle, President of the Guild, Patric Verrone vowed to not abandon the reality TV workers in their quest for benefits and unionization. Not knowing much of the subject, I always naively assumed that if a group wanted coverage, then they could just join. I figured if the WGA was having trouble getting the reality TV writers under their wing, it was because the reality TV writers did not want to be unionized. The large group of people who gathered in the streets today, in what started off as rain, told me different. Apparently, once again, it's getting the Studio and production company to agree to the WGA covering the reality TV writers that's the hang up.

Patric had some interesting information to share. Apparently FOX gave health insurance to writers on The Simpsons after the show was on the air for 9 years, but refused to do the same for the Futurama writers.

Since unpaid overtime is a violation of state labor laws for any industry, some of the angry FOX writers threatened to sue and got quiet settlements from FOX. One writer, however, refused to settle and went for the hearing. The state decided he was owed $35,000 in unpaid overtime from FOX because the fact that he wasn't in a union made him an hourly employee entitled to overtime pay. So Patric encouraged Fremantle to unionize its shows because Union writers don't get overtime.

Patric's closing remarks were to read from an email from one of the state senators. The email informed us that the state legislature is going to look into labor violations for Reality TV workers. That brought cheers from the crowd.

Earlier, before the speakers took the stage, we were entertained by American satirical rock band duo, Tenacious D, (Kyle Gass and Jack Black). These musician/actor satirists had a couple of wonderful satirical songs on the Writers Strike. You can hear them on You Tube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlgm_rtfQS8.

Once again it was really nice to reconnect with a writer who I hadn't seen in a few years, BARRY O'BRIEN. I met him when we were both working at Spelling Entertainment, he as a writer on Titans and me, the script coordinator of All Souls. I last saw him at the House of Blues where Barbara Hall was performing. She was the showrunner of Joan of Arcadia, for which I was the script coordinator and she was a consulting producer on Judging Amy, on which Barry was a writer. He is now a writer on CSI: Miami.

Additional comment: To anyone who thinks that Reality Writers DO NOT WANT TO JOIN THE GUILD or the WGA is forcing them, please read this article and the subsequent comments:
http://unitedhollywood.blogspot.com/2007/12/reality-writer-responds-to-amptp.html

I also wish to highlight this comment from Raye on the above:
To quote a fellow writer, if we took animation and reality off the table, and DVD residuals, then Nick Counter would scream, "Take off your pants! No pants at the table! I will not negotiate with people in pants!"