Writers Guild of America pickets ‘Pawn Stars’ production company in Los Angeles in dispute over pay and hours
Members of the Writers Guild of America, East expanded their protest of the New York producing company behind the reality TV series “Pawn Stars” by setting up a picket line in Los Angeles on Thursday, intensifying an already heated dispute with one of the industry’s most prominent producers of unscripted TV.
The guild organized about 50 protesters outside the Sherman Oaks offices of ITV Studios, the British TV giant that owns Leftfield Entertainment, the American reality TV production house whose other titles include “American Grit,” “Tiny House Nation” and “Counting Cars.”
The WGA East has been protesting against Leftfield in New York in recent weeks over contract negotiations.
Officials at the guild said Leftfield has failed to sign a union contract despite more than a year at the bargaining table. They also said that the company ran a nonunion campaign but that writers and producers eventually voted in 2015 to unionize with the guild.
Among the sticking points are the guild’s accusations of low pay and long hours. The guild said that Leftfield has proposed pay minimums that are below the rates that fast food workers might earn.
The WGA, East said Leftfield has attempted to shift the blame to the channels like A&E, AMC and Fox that air its shows.
ITV replied in a statement that the guild continues “to perpetuate its many lies and mischaracterizations of the facts while we at ITV undertake to negotiate with the guild in good faith.”
The company described Thursday’s picketing as a “transparent, propaganda-driven stunt” and said it offers pay well above the minimum compensation levels that the guild has negotiated with other production companies, while also providing healthcare, paid time off, controls on hours worked, retirement and other benefits.
The Writers Guild of America has attempted to unionize a number of reality shows in recent years to varying degrees of success. One of its biggest fights was in 2006, when writers for “America’s Next Top Model” went on strike after they claimed the show’s producers rebuffed their request to join the Writers Guild of America, West.
On Thursday, WGA East Executive Director Lowell Peterson said in a statement that Leftfield’s writer-producers “create profitable shows and have the right to a [guild] contract that will enable them to build sustainable careers in the television industry.”
Twitter: @DavidNgLAT
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