“Some people might say that it’s apples and oranges—cutting the pay of assistants versus what the studio paid Kreisberg not all that long ago,” said a writer-producer who worked in the Arrowverse. “But it just reinforces the fact that those at the top of the food chain are protected, while the people who are most vulnerable have no options and have to take it on the chin.”
“It’s upsetting to see that WB execs would rather pay a toxic person and keep him happy than use that money towards their assistants, who have done nothing wrong,” said an Arrowverse assistant.
FEELING TRAPPED
The staffers in question perform many of the basic and most essential tasks of the TV industry. They take notes on story-planning sessions, coordinate script changes, run errands, and make sure expenses are paid, just for starters. It’s no exaggeration to say the industry would not function without these employees, and for them, overtime hours—which are paid at higher rates—are crucial to their ability to stay afloat.
The advocacy group #PayUpHollywood emerged in 2019, in large part to call attention to the fact that across the industry, assistants’ compensation “has not kept up with the astronomical cost of living in Los Angeles,” a spokesperson told Vanity Fair. The group also said it has been fielding an increased number of distress calls from entry-level workers.
“In the last month, we’ve received numerous reports that studios have ramped up the pressure tactics used to bully support staffers into underreporting or refraining from submitting their overtime hours,” the spokesperson said in a statement to Vanity Fair. “Studios have always gaslit support staffers into devaluing their work, their pay, and their worth, but to exploit the most powerless group in the Hollywood hierarchy in the middle of a financially devastating pandemic is monstrous.”
“I haven’t heard that every single studio is cutting hours, but we have heard that quite a few are,” said Jason Elias, business representative for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 871, which has about 700 script coordinators and writers’ assistants in its ranks. “Hopefully the industry realizes that what they’re doing to their least powerful employees, many of whom were barely getting by already, just does not look good.”
During this unsettled time, production on shows has stopped, of course, but many TV employees are still working from home. Endangering the pay of support staff has caused so much turmoil in part because of the onerous, often chaotic nature of remote work.
Writers, producers, and assistants said they’d heard comments from management or had seen studio missives that strongly implied that working in “Zoom rooms” is easier and hence less time-consuming. “It is absolutely not easier,” said one Warner Bros. assistant. “As a writers’ assistant who has been in the position both in the physical room and in the Zoom room for the exact same show, the Zoom room is 100% more exhausting.”
At the end of March, news reports emerged about cuts to assistant pay at CBS. The studio said a memo on the topic was issued “in error,” but directives about curtailing overtime have also circulated at Sony. Vanity Fair has reviewed an internal Sony email that states that “your assistants should not be working overtime unless absolutely necessary.” Billing more than 40 or 45 hours was “strongly discouraged over multiple email chains,” according to one assistant at the studio.
“There is already a huge culture of stigma surrounding assistants who complain about their pay or who ask for overtime pay,” said a second Sony assistant. But, they added, “I don’t know anyone whose workload has decreased or departed from what they would be doing in an office. If anything, assistants are doing more just trying to keep everyone up to speed—not to mention the mental health crises many of us are dealing with in light of everything happening in the world.”