In today’s labor climate, Bethenny Frankel’s demand for a reality TV stars organization may appear to be a sideshow. However, as NBCUniversal discovered earlier this week, the Real Housewives vet and her legal representatives want to put the matter center stage.
“Please be advised that the day of reckoning has arrived,” attorney Bryan Freedman, in collaboration with colleague lawyer Mark Geragos, declares in a letter addressed on August 3 to NBCU’s top in-house counsel Kimberley Harris.
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The attorneys inform the Comcast EVP and NBCU General Counsel that they represent a “significant number of individuals” from the so-called unscripted area, and they accuse the media behemoth of “grotesque and depraved mistreatment of reality stars and crew members.”
They hammer the point home even more by claiming that the “sordid and dark underbelly of NBC’s widely consumed reality TV universe has remained under wraps for far too long.” In reply to the letter and the threat of a lawsuit, NBCU provided a measured response.
“NBCUniversal is dedicated to maintaining a safe and respectful workplace for the cast and crew of our reality shows,” a company spokeswoman told Deadline.
“We demand our third-party production partners to have appropriate workplace policies and training in place from the start.”
If a complaint is brought to our attention, we engage with our manufacturing partners to ensure that quick, appropriate action is or has been taken, such as investigations, medical and/or psychological support, and any corrective action that may be necessary, such as personnel changes.”
Looking ahead, these claims, which we’ve all heard about unscripted TV in some form or another (Can you say, The Bachelor? ), might send shivers through the business.
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In addition, even as WGA executives and the AMPTP convene on Friday for a meeting about possibly future meetings, reality TV is the gem in the Comcast-owned company’s linear networks and streaming crown, despite the ongoing strike by scribes and SAG-AFTRA.
This, of course, may bring back memories of NBCU’s battle with Freedman over Gabrielle Union’s less-than-stellar performance on America’s Got Talent a few years ago.
