Hollywood PANICS as REALITY shows CANCELED, workers DESPERATE, producers QUIT!

by 05.31.2024

Development and production have been sluggish since the strikes, leaving desperate workers in the lurch: “All of a sudden the faucet just turned off.”

For the waiting workforce, development and production haven’t picked up much since then. “I’ve worked in this industry for 20 years, and all of a sudden the faucet just turned off,” says producer Patrick Caligiuri (Naked and Afraid, American Idol), who has posted multiple times to his TikTok since March about the struggles of entertainment workers. (His first post, emblazoned “Reality TV is dead,” took off on LinkedIn, racking up over 2,000 likes and nearly 300 comments.)

“It’s not just people who just moved to L.A. to get into the business that can’t find jobs,” adds one veteran reality TV producer. “It’s somebody who’s been working for 25 years and has a résumé that I would kill for who’s saying they haven’t worked in a year.”

Many veteran unscripted producers and sellers, who asked to remain anonymous in a bid to protect future sales, say the downturn is mirroring what’s happening in the scripted TV space as budgets there, too, are being squeezed across the board, and especially on broadcast. Unscripted shows, which historically have been cheaper to make and faster to produce, are feeling the same fiscal pinch as their scripted counterparts as media companies right-size their slates and spending. “It’s the same problem as scripted, and it’s really depressing,” says one veteran reality executive.

The overalll contraction and M&A have also meant fewer buyers for unscripted fare. Max, for example, no longer has its own unscripted department after incorporating Discovery’s vast portfolio of programming into the streamer. “At the legacy companies, you have massive fiscal pressure going on — just look at the stock prices. Those are the traditional buyers. It’s the same reasons you’ve seen in scripted, just leading to unscripted as well,” says one longtime seller.

Budgets for the shows that are being greenlit, meanwhile, are getting slashed, which is trickling down to affect the salaries that are being offered, according to sources. Some particularly noteworthy examples have made the rounds in online reality communities: One longtime reality producer, who says seasoned story producers used to be able to make $2,800 a week, shares a job posting starting May 31 and offering $350 to $450 a day, which amounts to $1,750 to $2,250 a week; a story producer sends a screenshot of a job starting in January that offered $1,800 to $2,200 a week for the same role. “Unfortunately, there’s a lot more supply than demand right now” when it comes to available workers, adds the veteran reality TV producer. As a result, “Everybody’s Scrooge McDucking it.”

More than ever, unscripted insiders say, buyers are risk-averse and relying on bets that are considered to be safe. What is working right now? “The big franchises are still being greenlit, and that’s both the big IP — Deal or No Deal, MasterChef, Lego Masters — and franchises like Below Deck and the Housewives,” says Banijay Americas CEO Ben Samek, who oversees nine production companies across the United States and Brazil. “New stuff has to be thoughtful and have a reason why it’s going to get bought.”

Fresh sports-related ideas have been especially welcomed in the wake of the popularity of Netflix’s Formula 1: Drive to Survive series, which has been credited with raising viewership of races in the U.S. Insiders note that LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s production shingle, the SpringHill Company, has been a standout seller during this time, with three upcoming sports documentaries for the History Channel and an upcoming docuseries for Vice TV announced just in the past few months. Game shows, too, are prospering amid the overall nonfiction slowdown. Titles like Fox’s The Floor and The Quiz With Balls, both shows that debuted in 2024, can be done on a budget and earn impressive ratings numbers, explains one 20-year unscripted veteran. “And they repeat, too,” this person says. “People forget questions and rewatch. [They’re] easy to put on and watch.”

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