America's Next Top Union Fight

Today, I spent about an hour out on the picket lines with the writing staff from "America's Next Top Model." This group of 12 has been out there since July 21, when the production company for the show refused to negotiate with the writers for a WGA union contract, after multiple notices and letters asking for union recognition. This is the latest chapter in an ongoing effort to unionize reality television and place it on a level playing field with its scripted television counterparts. A good backgrounder about the America's Next Top Model strike is here. The AP ran a story as well.

“These writers merely want what other writers in this industry already have: health insurance, a portable pension, residuals, and fair pay. To achieve this, they have taken the brave step that no writer should ever be forced to do: they put their pens down and picked up picket signs. For this determination, guild writers everywhere salute them and support them,” said WGAw President Patric M. Verrone.

The labor movement has fallen precipitously over the last 60 years, and its position as the backbone of working America, fighting for the rights of employees everywhere, has suffered. In my opinion, Hollywood is characterized as "the Hollywood Left" because it's a strong union town, willing to collectively stand up for its rights and expectations in the face of management. And because practically everybody consumes Hollywood products, the strike at America's Next Top Model can be a teachable moment for the value of labor movements.

Unions are frequently seen as extorters, but they're capitalists working within a capitalist system, getting the best price they can for their labor. The current system in the television industry, in which I work, where scripted shows work under union contracts, get full health care benefits, portable pensions, residuals, and set minimum rates, and reality or nonfiction shows do not for no other reason than the genre of show on which they work, is ridiculous in its inequity. It's happened because management saw a way to get away with it.

Union identification among younger people is lower as less and less people come from union families. A union card is a badge of honor in Los Angeles, a sign of arrival, and there's definitely a sense that new people in the industry feel that they're not entitled to union membership out of the box. Because nonfiction shows were not covered by existing Writer's Guild contracts, management basically found a loophole whereby they could lock staffers into weekly salaries with no overtime and no benefits, in full violation of existing labor law. Most employees working in reality television are paid fairly well, but without any Guild standard, every production company is different, and some have exploited the situation to a severe degree. Here's a testimonial from the Reality United website:

The reality organizing campaign began in June 2004 when seven bedraggled story producers just back from the Australian Outback met with WGAw staff and officers to talk about their recent experiences working in the field. Twelve hours was a short day for these storytellers as they worked outside in more than 100+ degree heat. One story producer recounted a 40-hour stretch during which time he was only able to sleep an hour and a half— the other 38½ hours he spent working.

To quote another industry professional:

However, if the work I do - and love to do - in Reality TV were covered under a WGA contract, it wouldn't be an issue. I'm not averse to long hours. I fully expect the occasional unrealistic deadline.

And uber-demanding bosses are a given in this industry. Crafting a story is both a skill and an art. And it's unreasonable that we receive no benefits when so many production companies and networks benefit so much from us.

These companies make millions in profit off of a genre of television that isn’t very expensive to produce. Add that to what product integration brings in, and it’s even more. Claims that there's no money to provide storytellers with benefits are absurd. I have a hard time believing that providing a handful of people with health insurance will send a large multi-national corporation into hock.

All of these issues have culminated in the America's Next Top Model strike, which according to the WGA staffer I spoke with is the first picket line organized by the Guild in FIFTEEN YEARS. Somewhere along the line, he said, the Writer's Guild lost touch with the fact that they were a labor union, and that unions only survive on the basis of their membership. They were slow to recognize that management was using all kinds of loopholes to go non-union in animation, reality, cable, internet, mobile phone, and a bunch of other types of programming.

You don't have to like reality television to know that these employees aren't being treated fairly. Storytelling is the same whether the script is written before the production shoot, or after. The production staff did a good job in the AP story explaining their job function:

Sara Sluke and Kai Bowe, who have been picketing outside the production offices of "America's Next Top Model" since walking out more than two weeks ago, say their challenge is to avoid casting doubt on reality TV's legitimacy.

They're not claiming that they create dialogue for contestants and are eager to dispel that assumption, the women said. But they argue the work they do in shaping the series constitutes storytelling and they want to be represented by the WGA, which is eager to do so.

"There seems to be this idea that we feed lines to the girls and that we really do manipulate the actual shooting. That is not true at all," Sluke said.

Instead, the striking staffers _ whose job titles are show producer or associate show producer, and who collectively are known as "the story department" _ are responsible for distilling about 200 hours of raw footage into a cohesive and dramatic episode.

"We look at primary characters, maybe look at who is being eliminated that week, and craft an arc so that their elimination is either something the viewers are sad about or happy about," Bowe said.

Other secondary story lines are decided and, after an outline is drafted, the writers scrutinize the footage and choose "line by line how to best tell the story and craft it to a 41-minute episode with a beginning, middle and end," she said.

That makes them eligible for WGA representation and benefits they now lack, including health insurance, pensions, wage minimums, residuals and credits, Bowe and Sluke said.

The going rate for storytelling in the industry has been set through decades of hard work by the Writer's Guild and other unions. Put simply, management is getting away with murder.

These guys are in a tough spot. They were already some ways along in production when they walked out. Some scripts were completed, others were not. The editors are represented by IATSE, and they're still at work, which probably means that a good portion of the shows are in the can. My guess is that the editors are assuming a lot of the storytelling duties to keep the show's production on schedule, and that the production company feels they can move forward and finish out the season without the writing staff. And IATSE has had some sharp elbows for the WGA, because they feel that organizing all reality storytellers (including editors) encroaches on their turf. This infighting between unions can only help management.

The strike has been getting some good coverage - note the AP story (and here's a compendium of press clippings - and solidarity within the industry. The writing staffs of The Simpsons, Family Guy, King of the Hill, and The Shield have all joined their counterparts on the picket line, as did all the living past Presidents of the WGA (which is kind of like getting Bill O'Reilly and Michael Moore in a room together to agree on something). But they need your help.

The clearinghouse online for the WGA's organizing committee is at Reality United. They have a lot of action items that anybody can get involved in doing. You can join their MySpace site. You can email the executives at America's Next Top Model and the CW supporting the strikers. You can come down to the picket line if you're in the SoCal area.

I believe the labor movement must grow and strengthen for the benefit of working Americans everywhere. This is a high-profile labor fight that can inspire people across the country. It deserves your full support.