The Writers Guild of America East has finally sealed its first deal with management at the nonfiction production company Story Syndicate.
The union announced Tuesday that the 30-member bargaining unit unanimously ratified the contract after nearly two years of talks. The MPEG and the Writers Guild of America East won their joint effort to unionize producers and editorial employees at Story Syndicate in 2023 and have been negotiating since.
“We’re thrilled to celebrate securing our first collective bargaining agreement! We hope our contract will help set precedents throughout the nonfiction TV/film industry, and we stand in solidarity with our colleagues at Motion Picture Editors Guild IATSE Local 700 (MPEG)’s ongoing contract negotiations with Story Syndicate,” the bargaining committee said in a statement.
The WGAE flexed some highlights of the three-year contract Tuesday, including consistent healthcare contributions and benefits under the Entertainment Industry Benefit Plan. Story Syndicate joins McGee Media, Jigsaw Productions, NBC News Studios (Peacock Productions), and Vox Entertainment as participating employers.
The new contract also establishes minimum rates and annual increases, rest period protections, overtime pay, and more.
The road to get to this point has been a bit rocky. Six months ago, the Motion Picture Editors Guild and the Writers Guild of America East jointly petitioned Story Syndicate to finalize a fair deal. At the time, more than 250 members of the unions called on the company to “be the industry leaders they are and set a precedent others can follow to create a truly inclusive and transparent work environment.”
Earlier this month, the MPEG, which still does not have a finalized deal, petitioned outside of the Tribeca premiere of Story Syndicate’s OceanGate submersible documentary Titan. The editors union also brought charges of Unfair Labor Practices against Story Syndicate before the National Labor Relations Board in March, accusing the Harry & Meghan producers of refusal to bargain and bad faith bargaining.
Story Syndicate was co-founded by Liz Garbus and Dan Cogan in 2019. It has become quite known for producing social impact documentaries and nonfiction series, such as Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer and Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna. Other projects from the company include Nuclear Family (HBO), I’ll Be Gone In The Dark (HBO), and The Innocence Files (Netflix) as well as documentary features like Fauci (Nat Geo), Becoming Costeau (Nat Geo), Mayor Pete (Amazon), Britney vs. Spears (Netflix), and All In: The Fight For Democracy (Amazon).
In a joint statement on Tuesday’s WGAE contract announcement, Garbus and Cogan said: “Our employees are the lifeblood of our productions. We’re thrilled that we’ve reached an agreement that opens up access to portable healthcare for our freelancers, as well as many other provisions that support our workers’ well-being. At the same time, this deal fits within the constraints of current market realities, enabling us to remain highly competitive in the budgeting of our productions. It’s a win-win.”
