It’s becoming increasingly clear that people involved in the arts, entertainment, and editorial trifecta need to advocate for themselves. It’s an unfortunate reality for a lot of operations, and you’d think that one as big as SNL would at least have the money and self-awareness to properly compensate every wheel in its machine.
Apparently, that is not the case:
In short: Throughout the season, the editors for SNL have tried to negotiate more livable wages and manageable benefits, yet NBCU has dragged these talks on (most likely deliberately) to a retroactive point, near the end of the season. They’re now even trying to silence any attempt on the editors’ part to unionize via some bullshit “management’s rights” clause. As if management needs another tool for silencing workers!
In response, the SNL editors on staff will be striking on April 1, which will be one of the season’s last episodes, if not the last episode. This means no editors to clean up sketches, which could very well lead to chaos—well-deserved chaos, I might add. It’s almost like editors are a necessary part of a comedy show and therefore need to be aptly compensated in order to stick around? I know, I know. What a radical stance.
This is especially crucial considering the editors live and work in New York City, one of the most expensive places to live in the world, let alone this country. Moreover, SNL is a fantastic opportunity for almost anyone in arts, entertainment, and media, so it makes sense that, once hired, they’d want to make their position work. Crew members shouldn’t have to eat shit when they’re such an integral part of the show, ESPECIALLY considering the notorious favoritism and nepotism that goes into building each season. Come on NBCU, you’re telling me after all the money you make putting together such hit-or-miss sketches, you can’t compensate the people on your staff who are actually consistent in their performance?
We support the Motion Picture Editors Guild (MPEG) and their SNL members, and you can, too, by not tuning in on April 1. Make Pete Seeger proud, y’all.
(featured image: MPEG)
