Just under two weeks after the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees slapped Bravo with unfair labor practices charges at the Labor Relations Board, it looks looks like everything is now over – in a good way. “The crew of Shahs Of Sunset voted unanimously to ratify a union agreement, ending the month-long strike,” said the Motion Picture Editors Guild tonight.
Today’s deal was between producers Ryan Seacrest Productions and the Guild, sources tell me. While the show won’t make its original 
Season 4 debut date of October 13, postproduction on Shahs is said to be starting immediately. There might have been a hint today on the IATSE Local 700’s Twitter page that something was up in the acrimonious battle between the postproduction staff and RSP and the NBCUniversal-owned cable network, who took over direct control of the series on September 26. “Picketing activity at 5750 Wilshire Blvd. has been suspended. Please do NOT report to the picket line this afternoon,” said a tweet that went up Friday afternoon. After a rocky few weeks and the apparent pink slipping of the crew late last month, today’s ratification and agreement is another success for the Guild’s long term strategy to unionize unscripted TV.
Related: IATSE Hits Bravo With ‘Unfair Labor Practices Charges Over ‘Shahs Of Sunset’ Firings
Having said that, the IATSE Local always knew that this action was not going to be resolved as quickly as the victories on NBC’s reboot of Last Comic Standing in late April and on Discovery Channel‘s Naked & Afraid after a one-week work stoppage last November. Still, with work still to be done on the first two episodes, the 16-members of the Shahs postproduction team went on strike on September 10 in search of a union contract. The move came a couple of days after Bravo announced the debut date of the new Shahs season and one day after the Guild sent RSP subsidiary Berne Productions Inc. a letter requesting immediate negotiations. The same day as the strike started, RSP said they had “every intention of engaging in a discussion as soon as possible. Similar to the IATSE Local 700’s successful Survivor labor action of late August, the Shahs postproduction crew were primarily seeking health and pension benefits.
Related: Bravo Advertisers Targeted In ‘Shahs Of Sunset’ Strike
RSP at first said that they had have “every intention of engaging in a discussion as soon as possible.”But there were no talks and soon after pickets went up, Bravo pulled the mid-October S4 premiere date. “The new airdate has yet to be determined,” said the cabler on September 11. No new airdate for Season 4 of Shahs Of Sunset has been determined yet still but now we know for sure it’s coming.
Congratulations Editors for standing up and making change for all of us in this Reality TV industry! This is a giant win!
THUG TACTICS!!!!
Loser from Florida who wanted to cross the picket line, is that you?
Yes, how dare people work together for their common good. It really is terrible that people want to health insurance and retirement.
You are right – Ryan Seacrest and co are definitely using THUG tactics. This is a UNION TOWN!
A win for the editors but when will anyone stand up for the producers who work much much longer hours and days?
Why don’t you producers stand up for yourselves? I hear this so often. Lobby to join IATSE you really need to take it on yourselves if you want this. Have you talked to editors guild reps en force? Many editors understand your plight and would welcome you guys into our ranks. Truly we would be we won’t pursue you it has to be an action taken by story producers.
If you want it make it happen, you’d be surprised the support you may find, truly.
WGA has been making progress with that. Talk to them. MPEG has really been following their lead.
Wonderful news!!!
SOLIDARITY!!! THE PEOPLE UNITED WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED!
Fantastic news! I was worried I wasn’t going to meet my viewing quota of vapid narcissistic twits this year.
(But I AM happy for the editors)
“Fantastic news! I was worried I wasn’t going to meet my viewing quota of vapid narcissistic twits this year.”
Well there is always that Kardashian show (also a RSP product).
For SOME of you. Far from all.
Oh heck there goes my chance for an editing job. Darnit. How do I get in the union without
enough edtoting work.
Certainly not by being a scab. Correct spelling helps, too.
You didn’t have the job in the first place. If you want to be a Union editor, pay your dues. Contact the Union to find out how you can become eligible. It’s not that hard to become part of the Union, but is is hard to put forth the quality of work to be hired by employers.
Start by proof editing your comment for spelling errors.
Hahaha
good one
not editing on an editing comment
hahah
that’s a funny joke see who gets it
and
yes I already know directly from the
union that YES it’s a requirement to join
the union that an editor have a certain amount of editing paid work on
REAL jobs, not some webseries or indie
unpublished work. Check the
union editor site. It’s listed very clearly.
Thanks for your concern. There are only so
many frames per second to edit, only scenes
that are recorded.
Ok so how about the story producers that do all the work for the editors?
Ha ha ha ha. . You mean those sequences that they throw away right after seeing them. The story folk who don’t know how to use avids… Can’t operate groups… . Those guys?
Regardless though if story wants to be part of a post strike they need to join IATSE to be included in such strikes. So what’s stopping you?
Hahaha. Story producer, the most useless position in post. I work on a show now where they decided to not even hire story producers. My workload is exactly the same, since I always have to do their job anyway while they take the credit.
the story and field departments on unscripted shows work incredibly hard, for far less pay, and with zero labor protections or hope of protections. They deserve your respect and solidarity, not your abuse.
I’ve heard of producers working 36-48 hours shifts to address notes and get cuts out in time for broadcast. Or field producers expected to work weeks on end without a single day off, 18 hours a day, without overtime, health care or pension.
Most editors I know work decent hours, have health care and pension, and often earn enough income to own their homes and take nice vacations. While there’s nothing wrong with their success, it is ignorant, unproductive and rude to state that editors are the ONLY creatively contributing class to unscripted series, and that other hard working contributors to a show’s success don’t deserve competitive compensation and fair working conditions.
No one should forget that it is story and field producers who have DIED because of unsafe or overly demanding working conditions in the last couple years, such as forced calls depriving people of the sleep needed to drive safely. I’ve never heard of a editor DYING from too much creative output from an Aeron chair.
Can we please stop this nasty game of the story department claiming to do all the work and then the editors saying that they do all of the work. It’s a collaborative medium – everybody is working hard and sometimes under extremely difficult conditions. That being said, the producers and story department need to stand up for themselves. The WGA has been somewhat successful on some NY shows. Perhaps the field producers should also look to the DGA.
I would love to know what kind of deal that was make between the union and the Bravo/Ryan Seacrest Production Company.
The problem with story producers is that it doesn’t matter if they’re great at their job or not good at all, the editor still needs to edit the show and make it great regardless of what they were given to start with. That is why there is such disparity between the quality of story producers on any given show. There’s no set of standards to judge their talent by. Some are excellent, some don’t understand their job at all, and one can squeak by as inadequate because their job is a transitional one. But, an editor cannot fake being good. You can see and hear the results and know if they are talented or not by watching their work. You can’t do that with a story producer’s work. Sorry. It sucks to hear that I know, but it’s true. There are many talented story producers out there, but until there is a standard for their job duties based on expectations and requirements to do their job (not just the number of shows previously worked) it makes no sense to unionize their position.
Congrats to the editors. Now how about striking for the rest of the people on the show NOT getting benefits? No? I didn’t think so.
Producers aren’t editors. They have to take it upon themselves to fight their own battles. Time and time again they have made it clear they do not want to be in the editors guild. If they do want that then I think many other people would welcome them with open arms. Post should be United not divided. It’s not the editors decision though.
This IATSE contract almost assuredly will cover production as well. Usually how it works so there ya go. The editors took a stand and many many people will benefit
The editors elected to stand up for themselves, an election required by labor law. You can’t just strike for others; they have to organize themselves and elect to stop work until they get management to negotiate a contract.
It will be interested to learn what the union will get and what the union must give up. Good luck to the new season.
In a larger labor question, can anyone tell me why the studios are allowed to negotiate as a block against the individual unions- SAG, WGA, DGA? Shouldn’t the unions be negotiating with the individual studios for better terms and leverage? The United Auto Workers negotiate with Ford and GM separately. AND if the studios can negotiate as a block then why not the unions all at once?
Give up? They weren’t getting anything to start with… That’s what the strike was about.
Good for the union, too bad it was to produce this crap.
I just hope that everyone got what they wanted out of the new contract.
It will be interesting to see if the show comes back for a 4th season. It was a bubble show already. Unless the ratings really get a bump, this could be the nail in the coffin for the show.
And yes, I’m sure a lot of people will say “Hooray!”… but the show does provide jobs for many people.
You are on to something here. This “victory” for a handful of people could be short lived if the series isn’t picked up for another season. There goes more jobs.
A great victory for people who actually MAKE the show. The annual contribution for one editor’s pension and health is close to what Andy Cohen spends on lunch. Thank you lawyers for reminding him that he is NOT a God, let alone above federal law.
Big Brother is watching and I’m not talking about the tv show.
I can’t wait to see how the strike will affected the show and the rating.
I just want my show to come back on, settle this and get on with the show.