UPDATE: Atlas Media Says Producers Rejected WGA East As Negotiators

COMMENTS (13)

• I’ve worked there…the place is a disorganized, ass-backward mess, and a digital sweatshop. It’s amazing they have any success or that anyone of talent continues to work there.

  Comment by Been there — Friday November 16, 2012 @ 10:53pm PST  Reply to this post

• I hear that everyone over there voted the WGA out — like the whole company. I know some people who worked there and they actually said it’s a solid prodco–always have lots of stuff going on, cool group of people.

  Comment by Guy T. — Saturday November 17, 2012 @ 5:03am PST  Reply to this post

  • Thanks for that, Atlas Media owner.

    Comment by Schmuck — Sunday November 18, 2012 @ 12:16am PST  Reply to this post

• The WGA EAST & WEST needs to organize in a major way. There are hundreds of shows that hire producers to write story outlines, narration, interview questions and more. Production companies and the networks all need to pony up $$$$ for the producer / writers on ‘reality’ tv.

  Comment by TV SHOW RUNNER — Saturday November 17, 2012 @ 8:37am PST  Reply to this post

• To be perfectly honest, this is bullshit. The WGA East is a greedy bunch of fat nose picking clowns that is not taken seriously by anyone else in the WGA (especially the WGA West, ya know, the one that actually matters) or in the entertainment industry.

  You know what you have to do to get the WGAE to strong arm you into joining their union? Work in story for less than a week. Which means just about anyone who works in the industry in the right place for just a few days can be a part of their stupid little tree house club. They’re a joke, and they always will be.

  Please don’t let this whole “they’re a union, standing up to the big mean corporate bullies” mentality sweep you up, they were offered health care AND paid vacations (two things anyone else in this economy, including myself, would be elated to get) and because they weren’t given ludicrously exorbitant pay raises and twice the paid vacation days the owner of the company would get, they went on strike. Then, when the producers decided to take these benefits free of the scrutiny of the WGAE and decided they wanted to speak for themselves rather than let the WGAE speak for them, that’s when the WGAE started to protest.

  Like I said, fat, spoiled, lazy children. know the facts.

  Comment by Travis — Saturday November 17, 2012 @ 3:54pm PST  Reply to this post

• Man, I worked here when the WGA organized this whole thing. As soon as the election went through, anyone Atlas suspected of voting yes for the Union was let go. We weren’t “fired” just told that there was no more work even as they staffed up “Big Sexy” and one or two other shows.

  They also classified everyone who worked there as “independent contractors” and had us working as 1099 employees, despite the fact that we had set hours, and only worked from their office. Because of the 1099 classification none of us were eligible for unemployment while we looked for our next job and we all had to pay higher personal taxes since Atlas wasn’t paying into Social Security and unemployment. When the WGA came in, the owner held meetings and told us that if we wanted healthcare there was a Freelancer’s union that we could sign up for, but according to a couple former employees that had tried to sign up for the Freelancer healthcare, they were denied because proof of employment was required and Atlas’s owner refused to sign that the employees worked there. We were also told that Atlas couldn’t provide higher wages for any employees, meanwhile the owner had the office re-painted, they expanded by renting a 3rd floor of office space and hired expensive lawyers to combat the union. Rumor has it that a couple months of the lawyer’s fees could have provided all of Atlas’s employees with health insurance for a year, and they’ve been fighting the union for close to 2 years now.

  In the end, Atlas is like Papa John’s. They’ll complain about providing healthcare for the employees that make their business run, while providing an inferior product that’s made as cheaply as possible at the expense of the employees. It’s widely panned within NY as a poor place to work and well-known for its industry-low wages.

  I had to take them off my resume because interviewer’s kept telling me they felt bad that I used to work there.

  Comment by Anon — Wednesday November 21, 2012 @ 9:07am PST  Reply to this post

• Yeah “Anon” — right–I believe you actually worked there and are not a WGA patsy….nice try with the “rumors”…and like anyone other than a dicky union organizer would bring up the obscure Papa John’s reference! Hysterical.

  Comment by JST — Monday November 26, 2012 @ 8:25pm PST  Reply to this post

• All of these nonfiction companies are exploitational sweatshops who work writers hard, abuse them, and often sign them to onerous contracts. I think WGA W and E should combine efforts and take on an industry that routinely provides no benefits and wrongly 1099s people.

  Comment by Forget it Jake — Tuesday November 27, 2012 @ 1:44pm PST  Reply to this post

• They are making a huge mistake trying to organize production companies. The production companies take all their orders from the networks in terms of budgets etc. Networks approve every line item, every salary, every fringe cost. The prodcos are powerless. The WGA should be hitting up the networks a la Willie Sutton — go where the $$ is….

  Comment by Lawrence — Friday November 30, 2012 @ 10:28pm PST  Reply to this post

• I worked at Atlas recently. Is it a good place to work? Yes. Is it the best place ever to work? No. But then again, what production company is?

  All NYC reality prodco’s have their ups and downs. Atlas is no different. But overall, it’s full of good, hard working people and they’ve improved their vacation and healthcare policies. I’ve heard of a lot worse around here.

  Comment by Currently at Atlas — Monday December 3, 2012 @ 3:17pm PST  Reply to this post

• AAAAAAnd of course, the WGA East gets ruled against and laughed out of court, because their case is bullshit and everyone knows it, except for them.

  The sad thing is that if they actually sat on their fat slob asses and tried WORKING for their money instead of claiming to be persecuted downtrodden factory workers circa pre-industrial revolution, they might actually succeed in making some money despite their obvious lack of talent.

  I mean, come on. these idiots write for “reality” TV. Shouldn’t that alone be enough of a commentary on why they shouldn’t get paid more or even just as much as a Manhattanite PA making 125 a day? Fuck em.

  Comment by Travis — Sunday December 9, 2012 @ 10:37pm PST  Reply to this post

  • Sounds like a “real” writer with a lot of unsold scripts is bitter…

    Comment by Umadbro? — Wednesday December 12, 2012 @ 4:25pm PST  Reply to this post

    • And it sounds to me like a wannabe smart ass with the memebase ripped-off moniker, “Umadbro?” (very provocative, by the way) is trying to sound alot smarter and more perceptive than he actually is.

      In some places, unions are needed and necessary, and this is not one of those places. They abuse their power as a “union” blatantly, and that simple fact is in plain sight, which is why they were ruled against quite decisively.

      Spare me the rhetorical masterbatory fantasy that the WGA East/West will throw in their lot together and fight their mutual conglomerate enemy under the guise of “workers of the world unite” because those two organizations hate each other, and always will. They just happen to share a “WGA” prefix on their respective names.

      And I think if I were a disgruntled writer, my anger would be directed in alot of directions, but the WGA East would sure as shit not be one of them, which you would know if you knew anything. So please, go back to doing what you do best: giggling like an excited school girl every time one of those rage comics tickles your funny bone, mmmkay sweety?

      Comment by Travis — Wednesday January 2, 2013 @ 2:56pm PST  Reply to this post