When I first heard about this, I went on Facebook and messaged my former boss Michael, who hired me as an intern at CNBC in Burbank back in the 1990s where I worked with Tom Snyder and Geraldo Rivera, and was deeply entrenched in the OJ Trial, and had enough experiences to last ten lifetimes. I told Michael, "I know I agreed to intern for you for free (well, for college credit) 20 years ago, and I know it was a beneficial experience for which I am eternally grateful, but apparently you owe me money so cough it up or I'll see you in court." He promptly told me to stick it, as well he should. And if Tom Snyder were alive today and I demanded money for interning on his show, he'd have kicked my ass up and down the block... and televised it.
In the business we call show, you know going into an internship that all you will get is practical experience (sometimes college credit, as in my case). No money. Never money. If you are paid money, it is a job, not an internship. These lawsuits and the cry babies who file them and/or collect on them tick me off. And the pissants who collect the money will NEVER work in the industry again except maybe as fluffers in valley porn. As for the long hours, in Hollywood runners are paid a day wage. Doesn't matter how many hours -- some days I worked 20 hour days, and on a few blessed instances my days were less than 90 minutes long. But typically the days seemed to average 16 to 18 hours, and you as a young kid in Hollywood have to decide if it is worth it. But once you decide, you do the stinking job. If they promise to pay you but then don't, as one deceased famous face's production company did to me, that's a different story. But all this nonsense about interns needing to be paid is just... well... nonsense. On Thu, Jun 27, 2013 at 5:16 PM, Mark Jeffries <[email protected]> wrote: > Attorney Maurice Planko, who has been busy representing TV and movie interns > suing for lost wages in exchange for long days under his "Intern Justice" > program, has filed on behalf of Kevin Hicks, who worked repeated 10-16 hour > days on the Nicktoons live action series (gosh, just like Cartoon Network) > "Alien Dawn" and should be paid for his work--just earlier this month, two > interns who worked on the film "Black Swan" were ruled by a NY court that > they should receive pay for their work: > > http://www.thewrap.com/tv/article/intern-lawsuit-filed-against-nickelodeon-production-alien-dawn-100271 > > This I can agree with--what's bugging me is why a live-action series would > be on what is supposed to be a channel devoted to animated programming. I > assume Nick's argument is that Nicktoons is programmed for boys while the > mothership is programmed for girls. Then why call the channel Nicktoons? > How about calling it, uh, Nick XD? > > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
