A+E Factual Studios Unionizes With WGA East: “Realities Of The Job Can Take A Heavy Toll”

deadline.com:

It’s a fact: Staffers at A+E Factual Studios, producer of nonfiction fare including Hulu’s Dance Moms: A New Era and Lifetime’s The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, have unionized with WGA East for collective bargaining.

More than 150 employees have called on A+E to voluntarily recognize their union voluntarily, and a majority have signed union cards, WGAE said today — exactly one year after the Writers Guild strike settlement was reached. “We are passionate about our work, and we’re tremendously proud of what we create,” A+E Nonfiction Union said its “Why We’re Organizing” letter (read it in full below). “But we also know that this system is unsustainable, and that the nonfiction television industry needs to change.

We are resolved to create a collaborative, equitable, and respectful work environment, and we believe that unionizing will allow A+E to be a leader in the creation of a more equitable nonfiction television industry.” Founded in 2018, A+E Factual Studios’ credits also include such shows as A&E’s Cold Case Files; Disney+’s Best in Show; and History’s The Unbelievable with Dan Aykroyd, The Proof Is Out There and History’s Greatest Mysteries.

Co-owned by Disney and Hearst and led by president Sharon Scott and EVPs Steve Ascher and Jhamal Robinson, it has more than 200 hours in production and 100-plus projects in development, per its website.