Writers Guild Sues Fox Over Sweatshop Conditions
Posted on August 29, 2005
After similar complaints against ABC, CBS and Turner Broadcasting, the Writers Guild West has now filed a complaint against Fox for forcing writers on reality TV shows to work in sweatshop conditions. FThe lawsuit was filed in superior court in Los Angelese agaisnt Fox TV and Rocket Science Laboratories, which has hired to contract out the writing services. The lawsuit seeks unpaid wages, compensation and punitive damages.
The glamorous image of a Hollywood scriptwriter's lifestyle as an endless round of leisurely lunches and celebrity parties has been exposed as a lie by a class action lawsuit filed against one of America's biggest television networks.Fox TV is accused of overseeing and airing shows that were produced by writers who endured intolerable working conditions, being forced to skip meals, submit fake time cards and work more than 80 hours a week in cramped and overheated offices. "The conditions in this industry resemble sweatshops," said the suit on behalf of writers on seven reality TV series.We think it's time that the major studios fessed up to the fact that "reality TV" is not any different from scripted TV: it requires hiring and paying writers, editors and producers the going rate for their professional services. Of course, the reason the studios embraced reality TV in the first place was you don't have to pay the writers, which makes it really cheap to produce.Daniel Petrie, western area president of the Writers Guild of America, which is backing the action launched by 10 writers and editors on such shows as Trading Spouses, Joe Millionaire and Married by America, said working conditions had pushed some writers to the brink. "We've heard stories of people breaking down from the strain, of men and women working from nine in the morning until after midnight with no meal breaks, of location shoots where eight people were required to work in hot trailers meant for four," he said.