Hollywood writers union making new attempt to organize reality shows
UPI News Service, 06/21/2005
The screenwriters union is making new efforts to organize those who work in reality TV, an area the Writers Guild of America calls "a sweatshop."
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Variety reports that the WGA West claims it has almost 1,000 signed authorization cards from writers, producers and editors at reality shows and that 500 people attended an organizing meeting last month.
WGA West President Daniel Petrie Jr. called the drive "the most aggressive organizing effort the guild has undertaken since its founding."
"The secret about reality TV isn't that it's scripted, which it is; the secret is that reality TV is a 21st-century telecommunications industry sweatshop," he told Variety.
A group representing producers says that the WGA has violated an informal agreement to organize reality shows production by production.
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