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Post-production editors on History’s Swamp People walked off the job today in protest over producers trying to stymie union organizing. #STRIKE! Until further notice, Editors Guild and potential members are instructed not to service the production #SwampPeople for @History,” tweeted the Motion Pictures Editors Guild this morning. The dispute between the union and producers Original Media escalated after the company allegedly was “interrogating employees about union organizing activity,” according to a post on the union’s website. Approximately 16 people walked off the job today at Hollywood Production Center. That effectively shuts down fourth-season post-production on the reality series, a source close to events tells me. The editorial crew on Swamp People is not part of the guild, but they had been talking about joining the IATSE union, the source says. “We don’t have a line out right now but that could happen soon depending on how the situation with Original evolves,” added the source. Swamp People, which follows a group of alligator hunters in Louisiana, premiered its fourth season Thursday.
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Here come the fascists once again.
I hope that the History Channel is able to quickly replace these striking workers and fill the jobs with people who know their place.
“People who know their place”? LOL. What does that mean? Slaves? This is Hollywood. Read a book to understand how business works here.
Not gonna happen. You can not quickly replace talented Editors. No one will scab and the Editors will WIN. Again. Deal with it.
You’ve got to be kidding me. Do you work in this end of the business? Do have any idea how these companies completely take advantage of everyone who works for them? Fuck them!
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Do you work in this end of the business? Do have any idea how these companies completely take advantage of everyone who works for them?”
Amen! They take full advantage. Try being at the low end of the totem pole and trying to survive on a pay check to paycheck salary. People are drowning trying to get their foot in the door for these big companies. The least they could do is give them a decent salary or some benefits.
“People who know their place”? Who are you — Leona Helmsley writing from beyond the grave or one of the Koch brothers?
Ha! Feed the fishy!
Um, I dont know, maybe REAL writers! What does it take to be a writer on a stupid reality show? Hey, History Channel-STOP making these reality series, and get back to making Docs and bios-and more Naxi stuff!
“Writing” on a “stupid reality show” isn’t as easy as you think. For the most part it’s called producing. Imagine working with a bunch of totally untrained actors (real people) who have other jobs and lives for the most part. It’s not easy.
And telling History channel to “get back to making docs and bios” is like telling them to stop making money. Millions of people watch History channel NOW. Before, they didn’t. It’s a business. Their goal is to bring in viewers and make a profit. Not make YOU happy. You can turn to H2, Military Channel or Smithsonian Network. Oh but wait, but you don’t watch those networks. Just like you didn’t really watch History channel either. Maybe if you (and millions of others) had watched – History wouldn’t have changed their programming.
I DO watch those nets, as well as Nat Geo, and I DID watch HC, ALOT! Unfortunately, as soon as I got it in HD, they went the reality route! And for idiots like you, who praise the concept of moronic reality programming-have you ever LISTENED to the “writing” on these shows? Yeah, great stuff-Shakespeare should be jealous, that hack! Child, PLEASE!
If you don’t like it, turn the channel. Millions of ppl DO like it. Just because you don’t, doesn’t make it moronic.
And writing is terrible everywhere. Did you see Movie 43? Or how about the new Die Hard movie? What do you expect, Shakespeare?
Here come the moronic comments as well. You should look up the definition of “Fascist,” you idiot.
It’s about time. Shows like SWAMP PEOPLE are MADE in post production. The people who actually MAKE the product should participate in the sharing of profits. Hopefully the feds will take notice and look into Corwin’s history of shady “producing.”
Well, we work pretty hard in the field, shooting 12-16 hours a day and then typing up pages of notes and calling in to story producers. But yes, it’s true, the editors on the show are extremely talented. I feel very lucky to have them work with my footage. I’m not gonna’ get into the debate on who’s right or wrong here. I will just say that I hope the issue gets resolved fairly and in everyone’s best interest…
Share in the profits? They’re employees. They get paid to do a job. Original is privately owned company. There are no ownership shares to be had.
Beyond this – editors are among the most HIGHLY paid employees on these shows. I know top editors making 750 a day. And these people don’t work long grueling hours either. They’re often the last to come and first to leave.
We should all be so blessed.
The dirty little secret of nonfiction TV are the insane hours and lack of any kind of health care benefits for most people who work on these shows.
It’s about time that the nonfiction production world step up and stop the abuses and start taking care of the people who they hire and layoff at will. Union membership for editors, writers, directors, crew, and even producers will go a long way to making this segment of the industry less bottom-feeding and exploitative than its current state.
My take is and has always been: 1) employees should feel free to try to get the best possible deal they can, and 2) so should employers.
If that means striking, hiring replacement workers, renegotiating, outsourcing, unionizing, etc., that’s fine. It’s completely acceptable to look out for your own interests.
How agreeable you are, Oy. Except in this case the production company seems to have violated the editors’ LEGAL RIGHTS to openly discuss and consider organizing when producers began interrogating editors.
Go editors! Go unions (especially in the nonfiction world)!
They have NO legal rights, because theyre NOT real writers! Screw unions!
Bravo Editors on Swamp People. We are all behind you in solidarity. You are standing up for hard working Editors everywhere. We all deserve overtime pay and Healthcare. We are artists who make the show. We work hard and deserve it. THANK YOU we are with you and you will win for all of us.
Editors make serious coin – almost as much as showrunners. And, many editors who work in the reality genre are button pushers rather than real editors. Total hacks. There’s a few people who carry the rest. I’m not against unions, and I don’t own a production company, but as a showrunner I can tell you that the margins on these shows are tight, and many networks audit budgets and don’t allow for extra payments. Also, a production company takes a big risk – doing sizzles at no cost, taking chances, etc. It’s not so black and white folks – though it may seem that way. Be careful of what you wish for when it comes to unions.
Spoken like a producer. “Oh, be careful or you might not have any job.” Screw you. No editors, no show. It’s that simple. And if any of it were equitable & fair, this wouldn’t be happening. Editors making the same as show runners? Please. Not in reality bullshit tv or any other tv. And show runners don’t work 100+ hours a week. They have health care & come & go as they please. Editors can’t do that. When was the last time you saw an editor go home at 5pm because it’s their kid’s birthday? NEVER. Show runners go do their personal shit all the time while the crew is left to toil. I”m tired of the fear mongering which keeps crews completely exploited and begging for any crumb. There are other ways to make a living that don’t involve dealing with ungrateful greedy bastards who spend every day reminding you how “lucky” you are that they let you work on their show. You be careful or there won’t be anyone good left who’s willing to work on your turd projects which is what most of them are!
Your profane language completely negates your message. You probably think it makes your point better. It really just turns people off!
Editors are one of the highest paid positions in reality tv. They quite often make more than the people in the field.
Maybe the hours wouldn’t be so long if the editors weren’t on facebook, texting and doing personal things on their computers all day.
Every position in TV production has crazy days/deadlines. If you wanted to work a 9-5 job then go work for a bank.
I can surely attest that they’re not “hacks”. That’s an insult to all the hard work they put in. But show me an editor that’s put in 9 hours, and I’ll show you a producer or an AP, or an LP or PM, or coordinator, or mixer or camera op (you get it) — that’s put in 12 – 16.
Oh come on! On the majority of the shows I’ve worked on in the past 2-3 years, I’ve found that editors often make more than the show runner — AND they work less hours. Usually a 10 hour day.
I agree that their talent is a true craft, but of all the people and positions that are killing themselves on reality TV, editors — by far — have it the easiest. At least they don’t have to lug around a 30+ lbs. HDX900 for those ten hours.
Or be on call to the EP 24/7.
Cry me a river.
I know the editors make lots of money in reality, but the Assistant Editors DO NOT. Especially on this show (I’ve worked for them) and often times, the AEs are the ones pulling 14-16 hours a day, so this is absolutely fantastic for them. No more cheap labor for a show that could afford to produce a superbowl commercial but not offer decent wages for their Assistant Editors.
Exactly why everyone working on “reality” should seek to unionize — PAs, APs, story people, producers, and writers. Everyone works too hard, too long, is abused too much with a lack of health benefits. The industry should care for its workers a little more.
OM didnt pay for the super bowl ad, history promo dept did. Isnt the point of being an AE to pay your dues, learn the system inside and out, and work your way up to getting hired as an editor? Thats where you make a lot of money and make up for that time you spent paying your dues? You know, like everyone else in this industry. Unions waste money. If you need healthcare, negotiate a decent rate for yourself before you take the job, or dont take it. Fulfill the obligation you made when you signed onto the show.
And dont think for one second the editors are striking for the benefit of the AEs. Theyre just being greedy and are willing to kill another show.
An assistant editor used to be an apprentice position but those days are long gone. Now the assistant editors manage hundreds of terabytes of tapeless media tracking elements from all over the damn place. The position has moved away from assisting the editor and more towards being the technical editor on these shows. We maintain the infrastructure that keeps these shows moving forward. Without us these shows are fucked before they even get started.
As an union assist you are compensated to reflect this, paid OT a higher rate. The productions also understand the value of a good assistant editor and what they bring to the table. On reality you’re just a cog in the machine even though reality assisting is far more difficult that scripted and we are paid far less. I’ve been in both worlds and rarity is far more difficult a job to have. Many people can be career assists some people simply don’t like the creative side of post.
Be careful what we wish for? Fair wages, benefits, and basic professional respect? … Noted. Being careful, sir! (Swamp People folks, way to stand up for what is right. Hoping for a swift end to the strike and you all back to work with a contract soon!)
The stars of Honey Boo Boo don’t have dental coverage and they seem to have done alright.
A “fair wage” is whatever a person is willing to pay for services and a person is willing to receive for providing services. Never understood why a union, a third-party, is brought in to make things “better”. Bringing on a union is the best way to guarantee the destruction of a company, to encourage violence in the workplace, and to lower the standard of living for everyone. Want to guarantee a perpetually unhappy employee? Sign them up in a union.
The producers should fire those striking workers and replace them with cybernetically-trained helper-monkeys from Yerkes Primate Center at Emory University. The monkeys will work for bananas and do a better job.
You will all be replaced, you all make a ton more than most of Americans and yet you still complain. Good luck getting your job back after you’re replaced….. Swamp People of all shows has paid your mortgages and for your new cars, what other show edits for over a year. Have fun in the real world!
The editors took the gig knowing it was a non-union position that did not offer benefits. As others have pointed out, they are highly compensated. If they are not happy with the deal they are offered, they should not take the job. Job actions like this may be great for the editors short term, but ultimately it will drive work outside of California and to more job-friendly states… and even Canada.
That is an interesting idea: Could you send your show runners to Canada to create a pool of editing talent that would make it worth while. The problem is the large pool of talent that can take pretty random footage and create sophisticated story beats that go through rounds and rounds of notes. As a reality editor – I will often take a string out of material, match back to the original material looking for better footage and interviews than the producers have seen. If the proper interview has not been given up to that point, I will write the information out as it should be done and then request that interview be given at a later date. I will also write the voice over copy, read that ‘scratch’ copy into the edit and then continue editing and doing what most people consider ‘editing’. That being cutting the pictures together, editing the voice over, interviews, music, sound effects and sound design and doing it very quickly. And since editing is more about dealing with changes than it is editing, I must change all of that if the story producer, supervising producer, executive producer or the network requests the change. Then often have to change it back – (thank god for the ability to duplicate an edit sequence and save changes easily).
Editors get fired regularly if they don’t ‘fit’ with what the producers want. Many times the editors are the first to go if a show isn’t working – that until the production company or network realize that it is not an editor problem as much as it is a producer problem.
With all that said, I love the challenges involved with editing reality. We are given so much control in how a story develops – it is really fun. And the pay is decent but only because successful reality shows are a cash cow – there are very few residuals, very few high priced talent contracts, very few shows that are union organized. And they get worldwide rights to the shows so if you amortized a show like Swamp People, including the draw that it gives to other shows on the network, over its life, it’s not unreasonable to think it could generate a billion dollars because they can run the show FOREVER and the network owns every piece of it.
Well said. Can not wait for a solution to be R.E.A.C.H.E.(d).
it will not be missed.
This is probably a failed effort – why?
The editors are not union.
The production company (Original) will simply hire different editors from the roster of many qualified non-union editors that already work their shows. Thost fifteen just lost their gig. They rehire over night, by next week it will business as usual.
Great point.
he only real union that will be formed will be between all of the production companies not to hire these idiots who have chosen to make this move. Your names are already circulating, you’ve made my list of do not hires!! Learn Final Cut, your avid days are over.
“know their place?” Their “place” us to ve repwcted as a professional who works hard and earns a paycheck under legal terms (and that means OT, break time and at least 8 hours of test between shifts) I hope people like you get a job where all respect and dignity is thrown out the door while you work 24 hours a day for pennies only to be laid off by some jackass producer. I also hope you lose your job to the intern or overseas person who will later steal your work for good.
If your a producer/exec I hope you learn your place and realize we don’t take shit from you.
Known fact about the edit staff of swamp. Under the Catalina era, they all worked half days on Fridays. Most other days they did 6 real hours of work and 4 hours of socializing. Once your leader was taken you had to work real hours and have NOW chosen to complain. FYI to the person who posted earlier, all of these editors names are on IMDB, very easy to find. They have also made my do not hire list. As for your “health care” do you live under a rock? Obama care is coming soon, so what are you fighting for? You all make at least 3k a week min, some even more. The field team does not have AC or a PA that gets them starbucks all day or a fancy chair that will not hurt your back… no they’re stuck in the swamp getting what you need for the cush job you HAD… non of you will be welcome back and if you do your homework, Original is owned by Endemol, they also own a ton of other companies with a ton of contacts. Hope you all put money away in your savings account, have your UNION fight for more unemployment money because that’s what you’re going to need!
FYI, no editor from Season 3 returned for Season 4. The rest is pure nonsense.
The idea that you have to “pay your dues” is the same one that used to be leveled against medical students and new doctors, forcing them to work 36-hour shifts three times a week or some other insane schedule, which resulted in many needless errors at the patients’ expense.
Yes, I know in post no one’s life hangs on that kind of knife edge.
When workers who COULD unionize don’t, they allow the boss/owner to pit them against the other cogs in the machine, rather than everyone standing shoulder to shoulder in the just struggle.
Wherever workers are at risk of being treated unfairly, they should have a union.
Ha ha ha. I love listening to all these people whine about how much editors make. These are either the same people that have worked in production for about 3 minutes and are mad because they are smarter than their boss and should be running the place. Otherwise, they are suffering idiots. Why oh why would you work next to people year in and year out and get upset that they make more than you and yet have such an easier job? Become an editor, geniuses! I did, I thought producing was “where it’s at” – and thought my editor friends were suckers for being stuck in a room all day. That lasted less than a year. Now I sit here and read Deadline Hollywood for 20mins at a time while you producers figure out what you are supposed to be doing and getting me my ftg and scripts.
Respect every one you work with up and down the chain you yahoos! Not one person can do it all by themselves – (but if there was just one – it would be an editor!) 
And to the note about the AE’s: VERY TRUE – Only the big feature editors have their precious “apprentice”. The rest the industry has an (as in ONE) assistant editor who is the mastermind behind keeping your unlabeled tapes in order, botched ftg converted and the whole post production system from breaking down. Again, respect. Learn their names, take them to lunch once and awhile.
To keep this on point – Unions are in it to make money for themselves first – so think of that, and how bad you got it, before making that call.
Good. Anything that shuts down production of these crap shows is alright by me. Any chance we can get the boo-boo idiots to go on strike next?
You are severely misinformed. Most editors in reality make far less than $750 per day and work 12-16 hours per day with no overtime. Often times their weekly rates are based on a 6 day week further diluting their per day rate.
I don’t know what company you work for, but in my 9 years in reality TV I’ve never seen an editor work a 16 hour day without getting a day and a half on their rate. Do all editors make 750? No. I know some junior editors making 400 a day. That is still more than the majority of the staff on any given show.
At my last company, we took the Internet out of the edit rooms. We said it was to prevent viruses etc, but really it was because editors were spending way too much time checking their email, on Facebook and reddit.
Two things-
1- soon all of reality will unionize and then people will actually get paid OT when they work OT, and crews everywhere won’t have to put up with being taken advantage of by the higher-ups on a daily basis. Not to mention health-care…
2- original media has a reputation for a reason. They’re on my short list of places I won’t work.
Whenever I describe how reality works to friends/family with normal jobs outside the industry, they’re appalled. We have to stop putting up with this or it will just keep happening.
Editors better hang on to that. Given the million of editors in existence these days, the leverage on their side is waning quickly. Swamp People is not in need of the best and brightest.