Bento Box Animation Editorial Staffers Unionize With Editors Guild

Motion picture editorial employees of Fox-owned Bento Box Entertainment have voted overwhelmingly to unionize under the Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 700.

The company has agreed to recognize the editors union after an arbitrator verified that a majority of the employees had signed union-authorization cards. The deal covers about 15 pre- and postproduction staffers — editors, dialogue editors, assistant editors and other — working on such animated series as Fox’s HouseBroken and upcoming Krapopolis and Netflix’s Farzar and Paradise PD.

Editorial crews on some other Bento Box titles, including Fox’s long-running Bob’s Burgers, already had union representation through the toon producer’s partnership with other signatory studios. Many of them are members of the Editors Guild’s sister union, the Animation Guild, also an IATSE local.

“We’re proud of the Bento Box crew for taking action to unionize their workplace, and we’re excited to welcome them to the Guild family,” said Alan Heim, President of the Motion Picture Editors Guild. “As our union kin in the Animation Guild fighting for a #NewDeal4Animation have been making clear, animated content plays an enormous role in fueling our industry. But too often, the editorial craftspeople helping to bring this content to the screen don’t enjoy the same union protections that their counterparts in live-action do. Kudos to the crew of Bento Box for standing up to assert that they deserve a union, too.”

Fox Entertainment bought Bento Box in August 2019, marking its first acquisition after the Disney merger closed.

The Editors Guild represents nearly 8,900 post-production professionals working in live-action and animated motion pictures.