Reality Shows Have Writers? I Don’t Get It.

MSNBC: More than 1,000 TV writers want their benefits to catch up with scribes of comedies and dramas, and about a dozen of their representatives interrupted a discussion with the entertainment presidents of ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN and the WB at the Waldorf Astoria last month.
They dumped leaflets on hotel’s banquet hall tables and Susan Baronoff, an Emmy-winning writer for “Starting Over” and other shows, climbed onto the stage.
Representatives of the Writers Guild of America say reality show employees don’t have the health and pension benefits of colleagues on scripted shows, aren’t paid enough for overtime and don’t participate in syndication profits.
It’s not the most comfortable topic for television executives anyway, since acknowledging all of the writers indicates there’s something less than real about reality TV.
“They make wads of money from reality,” Baronoff said. “It’s not a little genre anymore. It’s a behemoth.”