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Charlie Rose will be paying out more that $207,900 to interns who worked on his PBS show to settle a class action suit. The settlement, reported by The New York Times, was reached this week and will see Rose and his production company Charlie Rose Inc paying $1,100 each to 
a class of about 189 interns. This stems from an initial class action suit filed in the New York State Supreme Court by former Rose intern Lucy Bickerton on March 1. In that filing Bickerton, who interned on the Rose Show in 2007, said that despite New York law requiring unpaid internships to only be allowed in an educational context, the Charlie Rose Show “did not provide academic or vocational training.” From Bickerton’s descriptions, the interns essentially performed the duties of research assistants and production assistants, working up to 25 hours a week. The suit sought to get minimum wage for all of the Rose Show interns ”in an amount that cannot currently be ascertained but that readily exceeds $150,000.”
The settlement comes on a landscape that sees various other former entertainment industry interns seeking pay or recognition through the courts for the work they have performed. Another class action case involving former Fox Searchlight interns is currently winding its way through the courts.
Deadline's Dominic Patten - tip him here.
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This is a ridiculous, shameful suit and an abuse of the legal system. Interning for this show was a privilege and a tremendous education.
I learned how to put just the right crease in Charlie’s boxer shorts and how much sugar is “TOO MUCH F$%K’ing SUGAR, SCUMBAG!”
Interning on this show should educate and compensate, because abuse of these people is just not acceptable. Why in this day and age would slave labor be accepted. I realize that it would be an honor to work with Mr. Rose but what makes it a gift that doesn’t deserve compensation. I can’t believe that he approves of this,because I thought he was a liberal caring individual having watched him for many years. I hope that this is an OVERSIGHT and we won’t have to find out that Mr. Rose is an FRAUD.
I can not accept the idea that someone should be considered as lucky to have an internship without compensation. They bring nothing to the arrangement there for they deserve nothing.They most assuredly contribute more because of their zeal and should be appreciated for there contributions and compensated accordingly.
She is lucky she got to work on show like Charlie Rose. I was stuck Chico CA helping to make commercials for local CBS affiliate for free.
You’d have to be completely out of touch to call this “an abuse of the legal system.” The law is crystal clear. The reality of unpaid internships is that they are an abuse of power in order to get free labor out of students, in the great majority of circumstances. They also create a wall to entry for those people unable to work 25 hours a week for free (i.e., anyone not able to pay $30K a year for education and work for free on top of that). It’s an outgrowth of an industry built on nepotism and shared favors.
I applaud these people, and I wish I had the courage to stand up against this kind of abuse. But I’m afraid of being blacklisted by an industry desperate to maintain its supply of free assistants and readers.
Couldn’t disagree more. Being given the opportunity to have hands-on experience — as a student WITHOUT any notable work experience — is an incredible educational opportunity. You also assume that the work being done by these interns was expert and useful. The time and energy required by the shows producers and staff to supervise their work and determine it’s useful relevance is also a significant investment by the production company. The inevitable result of this is that fewer such opportunities will now be available to students — introductions that might (for bright and motivated interns) the LEAD to paying positions in a VEFRY competitive industry. Short-sighted.
So by your argument, it’s fine to not pay any intern in any industry, even the financial industry where Wall Street is known to also abuse free labor, due to the fact that interns will be getting hands on experience. Then why not branch that out to say the fast food industry and have McDonald’s start hiring interns to run the registers and fry the french fries, cause they’d be getting hands-on experience as well, right?
So you compare someone trying to earn a living wage at McDonald’s to be the equivalent of a college educated person seeking to work in an extremely competitive, creative, free-thing-required industry? You also believe that any school can teach in a classroom what can be learned in an actual professional, industry environment?
Supply and demand. Survival of the fittest. I can tell that you would like it be an equal opportunity circumstance, but it cannot. There is no entitlement to a highly compensated executive position. Your level of knowledge and experience may lead you to believe that just anyone can be successful in such positions, but you would be very wrong. Most successful people I know “paid their dues” at some point, in exchange for an invaluable introduction or opportunity to learn.
I am sure the opportunities are flooding in for Ms.Bickerton. (which she can afford to sort thru, as she is living off of her $1,100 class action settlement).
Good luck with your position at McDonald’s!
Yet another leftwinger who thinks laws are for thee, but not for me. Frankly I think this lawsuit is stupid and if you agree to be an unpaid intern, well then enjoy working for free. But big government types like charlie think laws like this only apply to the “evil” corporations, not the beneficent ones that help push these kind of laws.
Just how entitled are we letting young adults become these days? My first internship in Hollywood consisted of collating script revisions and answering phones for 8 hours a day, 4 days a week. And you know what? I never complained, did everything on time, and was always enthusiastic.
14 years later I’m a network exec who keeps in touch with the people I worked for and have dealt with professionally on many occasions. Sometime the most valuable lessons you receive aren’t the ones directly taught to you.
Well, in my day when I was an intern we used to shoo the alligators out the back door then chase the rats out the front door and then go upstairs and trap all the bats in the attic and toss them out the window. And did we get paid? Hell no! We were happy to get the left over buns from the McDonald’s burgers the suits ate. But did we complain? Hell no! We knew we were lucky to get the experience and to learn how this business works!
You hiring?
If all you say is true and that unpaid internships are an abuse of power and so forth then why volunteer to do it in the first place?
They do it because they know that temporarily going through that work will give them a great résumé boost as well as a great recommendation ffrom their supervisor.
Btw I would kill for a 25 hour work week.
How does this affect Big Bird?
I sincerely hope that each of these interns is blacklisted from ever working a reputable TV job again. How’s that for an education?
You seriously must be some corporate muckety-muck, right?
Unfortunately, you’re not — cause those muckety-mucks don’t troll these boards. Interns, assistants and mailroom rats do.
Mark my words. In a few years time, Ryan in L.A. will be Ryan back in AL. What a wanker.
What a load of total crap. Young men and women (myself included) have been given the opportunities of interning or apprenticing in many different fields of endeavor for CENTURIES. This is how one learns a trade…like plumbing, photography, agenting, journalism etc. We now live in a world of entitled children who must be given trophies and blue ribbons in grade school just for showing up. I’m proud I saved up some money so I could work for free at the beginning of my career. Wouldn’t have had it any other way. Because it works. And builds character.
I built a vast amount of debt doing it, and little knowledge about anything.
Now the idiots I was working under call me with their bullshit projects. But glad it worked out for you buddy.
they call you with projects, and you’re complaining? i smell the BS of someone who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
I’m a buyer.
one it ‘didn’t work out for.’
I just paid attention, asked a lot of questions, tried to learn as much as I could and never gave up.
I don’t know, in the 1990s I used to do this exact same kind of work just out of college for great production companies including major studios, but it was called “temping” and I got paid $10-$12 an hour.
I could use $1K right now…
Arnold Kopelson look out!
$1100 — and if their names get around they’ll never work in the entertainment industry again. smart move.
Just not true. But thanks for posting, Ruppy Murdoch!
You would hire someone who sued their boss, after their internship? I wouldn’t. If you would, you’re a fool.
internships are a way to get in, to an industry that’s Very hard to get into. i got in by interning. i worked my ass off for SNL. but i made connections, and impress people with my hard work.
that’s what internships are.
That doesn’t make it right, bro. Billion dollar corporations can pay a few peanuts to the folks doing the heavy lifting.
This ain’t Egypt.
no, it’s not Egypt. no one makes interns intern. They do it (if they’re smart) to get into an industry that’s almost impossible to get into. If they want a paying entry level job in showbiz — they can go for that. And good luck to them, competition for those goes up about a million percent for those.
the list of successful people who started as interns is staggeringly impressive.
you don’t wanna intern — don’t. good luck meeting job creators off of a working set or production office.
interning is about making connections. this particular intern is actually doing the opposite by suing. i blame her parents for raising such an idiot.
Good for these interns! The weasels who wish that these individuals get blacklisted make me sick. Fact is I am sure 95% of the tv interns on these show move on to do something different. The entertainment business has no way of accommodating everyone who wants to work in the business.
I went to a top film school- worked 4 different unpaid internships got glowing recommendations from all- but couldnt get a job because all of them might hire one person all year while using 20 some interns. And ALL the work was PA work that should have been paid- and is paid by other media companies I have worked for.
I got my first job on a popular tv show because I made friends with someone totally unconnected through a party.
If you want to get in on the entertainment business, forget the unpaid internships- make friends with those who hire and run in their social circle, sleep with a wife of a exec and get her to nag her husband to get you on (or sleep with the exec directly), or be born to someone already deeply in the business. Those are the best methods I have determined for people to get in. (I used method #1)
Did Lucy get a book deal too? Another “Devil Wears Prada” meets Lena Dunham in the CAA/ICM crockpot.
I worked as an intern for 14 years at an agency. Got paid zilch. Great education. But it’s illegal.
Next up – Class action law suit for all assistant’s. You are being ripped off.
As someone who has worked in a few internships in this industry I have always found there to be these people who thought they were entitled. They thought because they were here on college credit, it ment they should be working for the best of the best and showed around like royalty. These people will never make it as far if they use the legal system to fight their battles. I find if I’m not doing what I want to be doing, then you take initiative and figuring something they need and you can do correctly! Don’t just sit there expecting people to throw you awesome things to do. More importantly it’s about the people you meet. Your boss might make you get coffe, but down the road if he knows your reliable he might pay your ass a real salary! This type of thing will only hurt hard working people who deserve a chance. I have interned with lots of people who took a simple and cheep cc course so you don’t have to go to a 30k + school. Bottom line, you’re working for free, you don’t like it than quit!! I’m sure that internship sucked but I bet you would gain a great tolerance for working for/with crazy people. Experience you will need when you’re working in this business.
It’s would be funny reading all the comments about how these interns are fools for taking their case up in court if the reality weren’t so sad.
The entertainment industry is not above the law. Interships are defined by law to provide certain educational opportunities for the interns all the while providing advantages and staff augmentation for the employers. It’s supposed to be a mutually beneficial relationship. THEY ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE FREE LABOR. Most interships in entertainment are nothing but opportunities for the employers to exploit those hungry for a chance to get their foot in the door. Just because this is the way it always has been does not mean that it’s the way it should continue to be. I don’t know why that’s so difficult for people to understand.
Talking about entitlement…do you folks remember a documentary called “Operation Filmmaker”? A young man from Iraq was given an internship on a Hollywood movie shooting in Europe and then basically told them all to piss off when he was asked to get the director a coffee…