Producers Sued By Reality TV Writers

American reality TV has produced so many treats in the past. From Donald Trump bellowing into a thousand cellphones in the back of a diamond-plated limo on The Apprentice, to a blonde airhead trying to choose between 16 completely identical men on any number of dating shows, viewers around the world have found joy in the unscripted adventures they see on screen.

The only thing is, though, it wasn’t unscripted.

Not only are the shows written (sorry, ’story produced’), but now 12 Hollywood reality TV writers are suing their producers.

It’s a fact that, since the beginning of television history, there is a very distinct pecking order in place. At the top of it are
the stars. They get to swan around with an enormous entourage, staying
in trailers bigger than your house. After the stars come the producers and
directors. And at the very bottom of the chain, after the make-up
people and the caterers, are the writers.

Television writers are usually tiny, weak, sunlight-deprived saps
who are kept chained to a wall in a cupboard. They whine and cry about
their ‘art’ while a big man in a leather mask gives them electric
shocks to make them type faster.

That’s the stereotype, at least. But who knew that it was true?

The reality TV writers are claiming that they were forced to work
80-hour weeks with no overtime pay or meal breaks, and that their
producers made them falsify their work cards.

They have filed a lawsuit against a number of production companies,
such as Telepictures Productions, as well as networks including CBS,
WB, ABC and Turner Broadcasting System. The writers are after overtime
pay, civil penalties, punitive damages and unpaid wages, while also
attempting to create an industry-wide standard for other writers forced
to  invent dating subplots for people named things like Shaneeeeka and
Chad.

What do you think? Are the writers right to ask for better working
standards, or should they just shut up and get a proper job? Leave your
comments below.

[story by Stuart Heritage]