Fremantle North
Fremantle isn't the only reality
TV production company facing potential Wage and Hour violations. Producers of
other hit shows, like Temptation, The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, and The
Bachelor have also come under fire.
Over the past several years,
reality TV segment and story producers have attempted to unionize or otherwise
stand up for their collective rights. But despite the support of many of their
brethren in the scripted entertainment world (represented by the Writers Guild
of America), this effort to date has yielded little fruit.
Moreover, the Wage and Hour
violations described in these suits seem to be culturally normative within the
universe of reality television. Inside
experts speculate that cost cutting measures employed by the "majors" (NBC,
ABC, CBS, & FOX) as well as cable networks may be indirectly responsible
for this epidemic of Wage and Hour violations. Since production companies don't
have their previous (larger) budgets for their shows, they're forced to scrimp
and cut corners; as a result, producers, coordinators, and other employees
often must "pick up the slack" to make sure shows get in on time and on budget.
