“We stand ready to assist Bethenny Frankel, Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos along with reality performers and our members in the fight,” said the guild.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
After Real Housewives star Bethenny Frankel called for reality performers to also stop working amid the writers and actors strikes to protest their own treatment and lack of residuals, SAG-AFTRA is stepping up to offer its help.
“From @snooki to @laurenconrad to @kaitlynbristowe to myself, reality tv has generated millions of dollars and entertained people GLOBALLY and my name and likeness and content are used for years to come for free on episodes where I was paid peanuts for my work.”
Among the allegations in the Aug. 4 letter are claims that castmembers are fueled with alcohol while being deprived of food and sleep, denied mental health treatment, trapped in their series even under “dire circumstances” and that acts of sexual violence have been covered up.
An NBCUniversal spokesperson said the company “is committed to maintaining a safe and respectful workplace for cast and crew on our reality shows” and requires its third-party production partners to have policies in place and works with them to make sure any complaints that are brought to its attention are handled in a timely fashion “including investigations, medical and/or psychological support, and other remedial action that may be warranted such as personnel changes.”
“Networks and studios have encouraged, promoted, created and fostered an environment which profits from subjecting reality performers to deplorable working conditions, little or no pay, illegal contracts and actual criminal conduct,” Freedman said.
“SAG-AFTRA‘s iconic commitment today to join Bethenny Frankel and other reality performers in this fight is a watershed moment that serves notice to these profiteers that financial gain is not a sufficient justification for the abhorrent mistreatment of unprotected workers.”
I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I actually thought they were already part of the union. Guess not.
Which is why a lot of reality crap gets put out. It’s super cheap to make
It’s just super easy to mass generate reality TV content these days by using a competition model. Get a bunch of desperate weirdos in front of a camera to produce content for basically free. And they stick around because they like the attention, and for the promise that they can win some arbitrary prize that means a lot to someone who doesn’t have much but means nothing to a corporation, which is saving so much money compared to actually paying their talent real wages for content.
Think Survivor, American Idol, Big Brother, X Factor, Eurovision, Ninja Warrior, etc.
