Reality TV and compensation

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Batman

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#273228 11-Aug-2020 12:03

So someone went on reality TV and suffered permanent psychological injury, sues TV producers, and gets compensation ruled. (Doesn't say how much or if pending appeal etc)

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=12355425

neb

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#2538591 11-Aug-2020 13:45

So someone went on reality TV and suffered permanent psychological injury, sues TV producers, and gets compensation ruled.

Does this mean rugby players on paid sports broadcasts can sue TV networks if they get injured?

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#2538595 11-Aug-2020 13:54

neb:
So someone went on reality TV and suffered permanent psychological injury, sues TV producers, and gets compensation ruled.
Does this mean rugby players on paid sports broadcasts can sure TV networks if they get injured?

They don't work for the TV networks, but they work for their clubs. I guess they could?

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#2538623 11-Aug-2020 15:00

Professional rugby players still get paid if they are injured. Why would they sue someone?

neb

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#2538626 11-Aug-2020 15:05

BlinkyBill:
Professional rugby players still get paid if they are injured. Why would they sue someone?

I was trying to point out that they went into this knowing in advance exactly what they were up against and what the risks were, so suing afterwards seems a bit rich: I didn't win, so I'll sue instead.

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#2538629 11-Aug-2020 15:12

It's a weird one, but it is in AU so different laws.

She was portrayed as a nasty character...she got a bit of backlash as a result.

She was signed up as a freelance participant - ruling was for a worker employed by the network, despite the contract stating the opposite.

She hasn't been able to work since as she's been emotionally injured. Not sure what that even really means, but there you go.

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neb

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#2538640 11-Aug-2020 15:16

Handsomedan:
She hasn't been able to work since as she's been emotionally injured. Not sure what that even really means, but there you go.

Emotional distress is the standard go-to for ambulance-chasing lawyers in the US, if you can't sue for anything else you sue for that. What the defendants then do is hire PIs to show the plaintiff working, engaged in sports, taking their kids to the beach, etc, at which point they settle out of court. It sounds like a bit of a setup, particularly because they should have known in advance what they were going to be in for.

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#2538645 11-Aug-2020 15:28

neb: I was trying to point out that they went into this knowing in advance exactly what they were up against and what the risks were, so suing afterwards seems a bit rich: I didn't win, so I'll sue instead.

I don't think that "reality" TV entrants don't know exactly what they're up against at all, and the producers (not the just other entrants) create the scenarios to be as difficult as possible. I suspect it goes further and the producers engineer the outcomes, or at least make it difficult for unwanted outcomes to result. So all entrants don't have an equal chance of winning. If you're a bland, non-confrontational, non-excitable person but otherwise excellent cook, you won't make good TV and you'll be written out of the show ASAP.

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#2538646 11-Aug-2020 15:30

Handsomedan:

It sounds like a bit of a setup, particularly because they should have known in advance what they were going to be in for.

I think the issue was that the TV show cut everything to make them into the "villians" .. which they likely had little input into....

I suspect their contracts were basically so open worded that the network could do what it liked...

But it is a good example of why Networks lover the "reality" genre, They get hundreds of potentially bright young things willing to be shaped and packaged into whatever the company wants..

Its said that regular TV actors in NZ and OZ don't get treated wonderfully, but at least they have agents and scripts, ...

In the case of reality TV the camera operators have more protection with Unions and Guilds than the participants..

martyyn

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#2538647 11-Aug-2020 15:30

A sport injury is an accident, what I took from the article was they were deliberately portrayed as the "baddies" which has led to consequences they may not deserve.

Entirely different things.

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#2538648 11-Aug-2020 15:35

frankv:
I suspect it goes further and the producers engineer the outcomes, or at least make it difficult for unwanted outcomes to result. So all entrants don't have an equal chance of winning. If you're a bland, non-confrontational, non-excitable person but otherwise excellent cook, you won't make good TV and you'll be written out of the show ASAP.

Absolutely, the drama-based reality-TV shows are about as real as the WWF. For example there was an attempt a few years ago to make a gamer-based "reality" show which was canned after the producers couldn't get the gamers to turn on each other for the camera. It's loosely-scripted drama with unpaid amateur actors, not anything real.

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#2539116 12-Aug-2020 09:05

frankv:

If you're a bland, non-confrontational, non-excitable person but otherwise excellent cook, you won't make good TV and you'll be written out of the show ASAP.

Especially if you're on a building show 😋

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bluedisk

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#2539165 12-Aug-2020 10:17

As someone who has worked a lot in television, including reality I have a few observations. Most people sign up wanting fame or notoriety, or least they like the idea of becoming a star. Its understandable as many people have boring, repetitive jobs or else are "between jobs', so the idea of being the centre of attention in front of cameras and potentially winning money or prizes is irresistible.

From the inside though, its a factory. The producers are looking for "talent" to cast as loveable or villains, and they will sometimes go to extraordinary lengths to get people on camera to react in a certain way. I have examples in the distant past where a producer has plied onscreen talent with alcohol in order to provoke racist comments for the camera.

I find this deplorable and it led at the time to a confrontation between producer and crew with crew walking out on location (led by myself). This was around 20 years ago and it probably wouldn't happen now as crew jobs are more highly sought after with too many applicants for the number of positions. Producers have ultimate power on how they choose to portray someone onscreen. The choice of music and the way the voice over is written along with editing give the audience very major clues as to how to view this person. It can be grossly unfair.

But yes, people do sign non-disclosure agreements and clearance release forms without really knowing how much power they are giving to the producer. At the end of the day its only television and most viewers forget what they watched last week, Chloe of Wainuiomata eventually got over her negative exposure to stardom in the 1990's Heartland series.

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