[lit-ideas] from the romantic writing life

This is typical, not unusual.-EY


http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2005/0829/p02s02-wmgn.html

Is there a sweatshop behind 'Survivor'?

Writers Guild of America files suit alleging that TV execs are overworking writers and editors of 'reality' shows.

By Daniel B. Wood | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
HOLLYWOOD – TV writer and editor Zachary Isenberg recalls vividly the shock of his second week working on the reality TV show, "Renovate My Family."

"We would work from about 9 a.m. to midnight, and often 2, 3, 4 a.m., and I'd be thinking, 'Well maybe this week is just an exception,'" says the 32-year old, who says he was denied meal breaks and told to submit false time cards. "After 2-1/2 months, I found out it wasn't."

In an Aug. 23 move that Writers Guild of America (WGA) calls "the largest organizing effort" since its founding in 1933, Isenberg and nine other reality TV writers alleged that Fox Broadcasting Co. and Rocket Science Laboratories have violated California labor laws. On behalf of 1,000 other story editors, field producers, and editor assistants at over 70 companies, the WGA-supported class action lawsuit also claims unlawful practices of perpetrating and concealing overtime.

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