Crew members on The Ellen DeGeneres Show are reportedly furious about how they have been treated amid the coronavirus crisis. According to Variety‘s Matt Donnelly, the talk show’s stage crew has received little communication about pay, decreased working hours, or their physical health while the show remained shut down in March. In addition, sources say that Ellen higher-ups have hired a non-union company to help produce remote episodes from DeGeneres’ home, a move that has further alienated the show’s union-affiliated crew.
Variety reports that during the two-week period from late March to April 9, Ellen‘s stage crew members, a group of more than 30 employees, received no information about their compensation. Phone calls to producers and Telepictures, the Warner Bros.-owned unit that produces the show, often went unanswered, and if they were answered, little information was revealed. Last week, after the prolonged communication blackout, the majority of Ellen crew members were told to prepare for a “60% reduction in pay, even as the show continues to air,” sources tell Donnelly.
Warner Bros. Television disputed these sources’ claims in a statement to Variety. “Our executive producers and Telepictures are committed to taking care of our staff and crew and have made decisions first and foremost with them in mind,” they said. The studio insisted that crew members are continuing to be paid at reduced hours, but acknowledged that communication about this process could have been improved.
Ellen last taped in the studio the week of March 9, after which production shut down. After a two-week hiatus (the show had a pre-planned spring hiatus the week of March 23), the talk show returned on April 7, a decision that crew members reportedly only learned about on April 2, through social media posts from coworkers in other departments. Variety reports that despite returning to the air, stage crew members were last paid in full for the week of March 16; as of April 10, they have been paid a reduced rate of two, eight-hour days per week, instead of a full week of 10-hour days. Warner Bros. has disputed Variety’s timeline, claiming that “the crew is paid in arrears and the final hour count had not yet been finalized.”
In addition to the lack of communication, unionized crew members are reportedly outraged that DeGeneres’ team has hired tech company Key Code Media to produce fully-remote episodes from the host’s home. “Due to social distancing requirements, technical changes in the way the show is produced had to be made to comply with city ordinances and public health protocols,” a WB spokesperson told Variety. They added that no crew members lost their jobs as a result of the Key Code hire.
On a personal level, stagehands are shocked that DeGeneres and her producers seem unconcerned about their mental and physical health amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Variety reports that many of DeGeneres’ crew members have been with the show since it launched 17 years ago, yet they have received few, if any, inquiries about their health.
This attitude seems at odds with that of DeGeneres’ talk show counterparts, including Jimmy Kimmel, who is reportedly paying crew members out of his own pocket, and John Oliver, Samantha Bee, and Desus and Mero, all of whom continue to pay employees in full. With a massive syndication deal, Ellen is one of the most successful shows on television, and DeGeneres among the highest-paid stars.
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