Takes a Lotta Time to Write Reality Shows
On his first day as a story assistant for the reality TV series “Renovate My Family,” Zachary Isenberg said, his bosses made an unusual request: Fill out your time card for the next three weeks of work.
Isenberg was puzzled. How could he estimate his hours before he worked them?
“They said, ‘It’s crazy in production and the accountants need the paperwork right now,’ ” the 32-year-old writer recalled. So Isenberg, who hoped that the job would further his prospects in TV, did as he was told.
Thus allegedly began a 2 1/2 -month ordeal — marked by interminable workdays spent in overheated, cramped offices — that is part of the basis for a lawsuit filed Tuesday by Isenberg and nine other writers and editors on seven reality TV shows.
Reality TV producers have disputed allegations that their employees toil in sweatshop conditions. They say writing for a reality show, which often involves plotting out story lines and editing interviews as much as writing dialogue, isn’t the same as working on a scripted program.
Guild officials contend, however, that writers for reality TV play an integral role and deserve similar benefits to those enjoyed by their peers in movies and scripted television.
Joined by Petrie and other guild officials, Isenberg and two other plaintiffs held a news conference Wednesday. Isenberg described conditions on “Renovate My Family” as “unbearable.” Working as many as 80 hours a week left him “so dazed all the time I never had a chance to rest or recuperate,” he said.
To meet the deadline, Isenberg recalled, he found himself working six days a week, often until 10 p.m. Occasionally, the writers would stay past midnight to screen footage for Fox executives. Isenberg said one story assistant was so distraught after working 28 hours straight that she broke down in tears and had to be sent home.
“Everybody wanted to do a good job and work hard,” Isenberg said, “so people felt very frustrated and angry.”
Through it all, Isenberg continued to receive the same pay, about $900 a week. Under state labor laws, the suit alleges, he and his fellow writers should have received several thousand dollars in overtime pay.
After 2 1/2 months, Isenberg quit. He is now working on another reality TV show.
“It was a difficult choice,” he said. “I’m not a quitter. But they treated me like I was nothing.” The LA Times’ Richard Verrier reported this story today.