Nikki Shoemaker

I went down a Sharp Entertainment hole after 3 glasses of wine

I’ve watched an embarrassing amount of 90 Day and finally got curious about the production company behind it. I wasn’t gonna share it but honestly this is wild lol There’s a ton of documented stuff beyond the usual “reality TV is fake” complaints. I’ll go from the least interesting to the most interesting. The least interesting info and which I will go over in my last paragraph (for those who care) In 2018, Sharp paid $226,000 to their workers after a New York general investigation into allegations that production assistants weren’t properly paid. Onto the juice: Mark and Nikki (s3) sued Sharp over how they were portrayed. Their lawsuit included claims like defamation, fraudulent inducement and breach of contract. They didn’t win BECAUSE the ruling said that Sharp’s contract explicitly authorized extreme manipulation, but they signed the contract. Also: Michael Jessen (Mike and Julianna season 7) publicly went after Sharp/TLC after his season aired because the prenup conversation was spliced for drama and it didn’t go down like that. But because they signed NDA’s, they couldn’t sue. The labor issues are probably the most concrete dirt on Sharp because they’re actually documented. In 2018, a New York investigation found that Sharp had been misclassifying production assistants and associate producers as exempt from overtime since 2009. They worked well over 40 hours a week without receiving overtime, and Sharp reportedly didn’t maintain adequate records of their hours or provide accurate wage statements. The company ultimately agreed to pay $226,000 in restitution and reform its employment practices. On top of that, Sharp was already fighting a separate labor fight from 2013. Producers trying to unionize alleged that shoots could involve 100-hour workweeks without overtime, potentially costing individual workers around $30,000 a year in unpaid wages. They eventually joined the Writers Guild of America East and secured a contract providing pay minimums, paid time off, health benefits, and a grievance process. Not only does sharp entertainment take advantage of their “stars,” but also their workers.   submitted by   /u/Nice__Chianti [link]   [comments]