New York Town Hall Event

The Reality of Unscripted Television

How To Improve Working Conditions for Post Production Employees

Thursday, June 25, 2015
8:00 - 10:00 P.M. panel discussion & town-hall

MoleHouse Post (599 Broadway)

Reception with refreshments to follow at Parigot (155 Grand Street)

Earlier this week, the Los Angeles-based production and post-production crews of Marriage Boot Camp walked off the job for a union contract; in nine hours, they had a deal returning them to work with excellent health and retirement benefits.

Recent years have seen dramatic growth in the number of unscripted television shows produced in Los Angeles under union contracts, in part because of courageous editors and assistant editors who have taken action to organize their workplaces. By standing up for themselves and standing together to bargain collectively with their employers, post-production professionals have won improvements in pay, safeguards on their working hours, and excellent health and retirement benefits. A few of these Motion Picture Editors Guild editors who have helped to win union contracts in L.A. will appear in New York to talk about their experiences organizing.

On Thursday, June 25th, the Motion Picture Editors Guild (MPEG) and the New York Editors Collective (NYEC) will host a forum for editors, assistant editors, and others working in post-production in unscripted television. The event will take place at MoleHouse Post in Manhattan (599 Broadway) and will start at 8 P.M.  The forum will feature a panel of accomplished editors who have taken part in campaigns to organize unscripted television productions, including editors involved in the Shahs of Sunset, Survivor, Naked and Afraid, and Swamp People campaigns. The event will include a moderated panel discussion and a question-and-answer session with audience members.

The event’s panelists are:

• Molly Shock, A.C.E. (whose editorial credits include Project Runway, Survivor, and Swamp People)

• Cliff Birbrower (whose editorial credits include The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, and Naked and Afraid)

• Mark Bement (whose editorial credits include Project Greenlight, Hell’s Kitchen, and Shahs of Sunset)

The discussion will be moderated by Anna Holtzman, Education and Advocacy Director of the New York Editors Collective (and editor of programs such as Made, Teen Mom, and Alaskan Bush People).

Following the panel discussion and town-hall, attendees are invited to a reception with refreshments at the restaurant Parigot (155 Grand Street).

This event is open to all New York area post-production employees working in the genre of reality TV, regardless of MPEG or NYEC membership status. Please feel free to forward this announcement to colleagues you believe may be interested in attending. RSVP to UnscriptedNYC@editorsguild.com  to reserve your spot. In your RSVP, please include any suggested questions you would like the moderator to pose to our panelists.