The Writers Guild of America has begun a campaign to
increase attention to its concerns over reality TV product placement and
writers’ benefits. Its tactics have included crashing events, creating a spoof
Web site (www.productinvasion.com/) and
hiring improv comedy actors to garner attention from media bigwigs and the
press. At an Advertising Age conference at NYU, members of comedy troupe The
Upright Citizen's Brigade impersonated Martha Stewart and Donald Trump while
wearing advertisements on their bodies. In an October panel about reality
television, WGA members entered uninvited, passed out fliers and demanded
answers to why reality scriptwriters aren’t compensated with overtime or health
benefits. A similar protest occurred at an International Radio and Television
Society event.
The WGA Web site expresses concerned about its
members who are increasingly being made to integrate products into scripts,
effectively turning TV shows into “informercials.” They’ve also been protesting
the lack of benefits for reality TV writers, but to little avail. The
organization plans to continue taking actions that bring attention to their
cause.
WGA member Susan Baronoff was recently quoted in
Broadcasting & Cable as saying “Our message to the industry is this: when
they are finally ready to talk, and we know they will want to talk, we want to
make it very easy to find us. So, wherever they go, we will be there. Whenever
they meet, we will be there.”
