CMU School of Drama


Saturday, October 27, 2012

NBC's ‘Fashion Star’ Shut Down by IATSE Walkout

Hollywood Reporter: IATSE crew members picketed the NBC reality show “Fashion Star” on Saturday, resulting in a production halt that shut down a scheduled 1:30 p.m. taping and dismissal for the day of production personnel and audience. A union organizer told The Hollywood Reporter that the union will remain on strike against the show until a contract is reached.

3 comments:

ZoeW said...

I really have no idea where to fall on the Union Vs. Producing Organization debate. On the one hand Unions are immensely important to control organizations wages and work conditions but on the other hand sometimes those same unions can ask for so much that there is no way that the organization or industry can survive. i.e. opera or ballet. Unions were extremely necessary 100 years ago but now I think we need a different way to figure out disputes between workers and managers. Even though unions do abuse organizations I do think that they are still necessary I just think that they need to change a lot for our 21 century view of the world.

Rachael S said...

I'm, like, totes really disappointed about this objectifying, scripted reality television show being suspended.

Wait. Hold up.
No, I'm not.

Shouldn't this article title end with a "yay"?

Yes. Yes, it should.

Anonymous said...

Why should the union be able to say the show has to have a union contract? Who are they to say that? While it is unfortunate that NBC is not providing health and pension benefits for their crew, it is within their rights to keep the show non-union. There are so many people looking for jobs right now that I bet they could go out and find a whole other crew for the show in a matter of days. While I do understand the union's frustration, I don't think that NBC should be forced to make the show go union. NBC is in the wrong for not looking out for the welfare of their crew in the long-term, but there is ultimately no law that says they have to go union. The current crew members should be able to handle this in another way- do unions have to continue to be the only answer when workers are abused? (I don't know the answer to this, but, like Zoe, I think there could be another way to handle such disputes.)