Workers at the nonfiction entertainment arm of RadicalMedia are organizing in an attempt to unionize with the Writers Guild of America East.
The labor group announced on Wednesday the drive to unionize 65 staffers in the company’s entertainment group, which has produced documentary titles like Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, What Happened, Miss Simone? and Hollywood Black. Organizers are targeting roles in production and postproduction with the effort and requested voluntary recognition from the company on Wednesday morning. The union claims that an “overwhelming majority” of the group has signed union cards supporting the drive.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to RadicalMedia for comment.
In an open letter publicized on Wednesday, workers stated that they decided to organize in order to establish union contract language covering pay, benefits and working conditions at the company. The group also expressed its interest in negotiating over “dark weeks,” furloughs and layoffs in order to promote greater job security, creating new professional advancement opportunities and facilitating “open and honest” communication with management.
The organizing drive “should not be seen as an expression of dissatisfaction, but a testament to our shared vision for a brighter future both at RadicalMedia and across the genre of nonfiction film and television,” the letter stated.
The WGA East has recently been ramping up its attempts to organize creatives in the reality television and documentary space. The union, which began unionizing nonfiction companies in 2010, launched an organizing drive at A+E Factual Studios in September and scored voluntary recognitions for unions at McGee Media and Story Syndicate in 2023.
Writers Guild of America East president Lisa Takeuchi Cullen called on RadicalMedia to “recognize their union without delay or interference” in a statement. She added, “Nonfiction television and film workers deserve contracts worthy of their hard work and the enormous value they bring to their sector of the entertainment industry.”
