On the heels of Real Housewives alum Bethenny Frankel urging reality stars to organize for better wages and working conditions, SAG-AFTRA released a statement on Thursday acknowledging “the exploitative practices that have developed in this area.” The guild added that it will now work “toward the protection of the reality performers” and “engage in a new path to union coverage.”
In July, Frankel shared that she was paid only $7,250 for her first season of Bravo’s Real Housewives of New York City. “I have generated millions and millions of dollars in advertising and online impressions being on reality TV and have never made a single residual,” she said. “Either I’m missing something, or we’re getting screwed too.”
She’s not the only reality star to speak up in favor of unionizing. Survivor winner Wendell Holland told The Daily Beast he thinks a reality TV union is “a great idea,” adding, “I’ve heard rumblings in the Survivor community where people would see themselves on these large streaming sites and wonder why they aren’t receiving compensation for that.”
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Entertainment litigator Bryan Freedman, whom Frankel has enlisted to aid her push for a union, sent a letter to NBCUniversal last week promising a day of reckoning for the company. Freedman alleged in his letter that NBCU is guilty of misconduct against reality TV performers, including exploiting minors for free labor, withholding mental health treatment from TV stars, and deliberately destabilizing reality stars by supplying them with excessive amounts of alcohol.
SAG-AFTRA said in its statement on Thursday: “We stand ready to assist Bethenny Frankel, Bryan Freedman and Mark Geragos along with reality performers and our members in the fight. [We] are tired of studios and production companies trying to circumvent the Union in order to exploit the talent that they rely upon to make their product.”
Reality shows are still in production in the midst of the ongoing strikes because they are covered under the SAG-AFTRA Network Code, which presently only covers reality hosts, and is not part of the guild’s strike against films and scripted TV series. A new Network Code contract was ratified last summer for work on reality shows, soap operas, and talk shows, and that contract doesn’t expire until 2024.
Consequently, the demanding, all-hours filming of hit reality shows like Vanderpump Rules has remained in full swing during the ongoing strikes. But with SAG-AFTRA’s new promise to stand in solidarity with reality stars, Frankel’s rallying cry just got a powerful endorsement.
