A+E Factual Studios staff is the latest to unionize

We haven’t heard any rumblings about Bethenny Frankel’s proposed reality star union in a while, but a different group of staffers is organizing all the same. According to Bloomberg, the Writers Guild of America East is currently seeking to represent a group of about 150 writers and producers from A+E Factual Studios, the Walt Disney Co. and Hearst Communications owned studio behind shows like Dance Moms: A New Era, History’s Greatest Mysteries, and Cold Case Files. Today, the employees asked the company to voluntarily negotiate with their union. If the company refuses, the guild plans to petition the US National Labor Relations Board to hold a unionization election and recognize the motion. 

“This industry is changing very quickly and we are major stakeholders,” said Drea DiCarlo, an A+E archival associate producer and member of the union’s organizing committee. “We want to make sure that we’re not left behind in decision-making.” We heard about and saw a lot of those changes in action during the 2023 writers strike, in which scripted television writers picketed for nearly five months to secure (or, at least attempt to secure) protections against AI, improved residuals, and greater job security in the same rapidly changing industry. When scripted television production ground to a halt, it became even more apparent how much the reality TV sector has grown.

“It really showed you, OK everything that you’ve been told is the way it is, that you never really liked but you sort of accepted, you don’t have to accept it,” Safa Samiezade’-Yazd, a story producer and archival producer for A+E told Bloomberg of picketing alongside the writers and actors. “It really helped galvanize us and give us more confidence that we can ask more, if we come together and do it together just like they did during the strikes.”

The WGA says the A+E drive is their most significant to date in unscripted television. (Frankel’s union is seeking representation under SAG-AFTRA, the actors guild.) The workers are currently seeking to secure improvements to salary, healthcare, paid time off, and minimum time to rest in between shifts.