MTV pulls out of "Real World Philadelphia"

[maggieaxid]

Ok, this sucks....not only is Philly the 78th WORST city in America for people 18-25, now MTV pulls out of Real World Philadelphia. Honestly, I don't blame them. City can't seem to get their priorities.

Posted on Wed, Mar. 17, 2004



CHARLES FOX /Inquirer
Members of various unions protest at Third and Arch Streets over MTV’s use of a nonunion company to renovate the Seamen’s Church Institute for “The Real World.”




MTV show abandons Philadelphia

By Michael Klein

Inquirer Staff Writer


Philadelphia proved a little too real for The Real World.

After squabbling with local unions, the producers of the MTV series yesterday gave up on Philadelphia as the site of its 15th season. Taping was to begin in three weeks.

"After considerable evaluation, we are disappointed to announce that Bunim/Murray Productions has decided not to shoot The Real World in Philadelphia," a spokeswoman for the company said yesterday afternoon. She declined to elaborate.

MTV's selection of Philadelphia was accompanied by unbridled civic rejoicing when it was announced Feb. 26. City leaders believed that The Real World, with its huge audience of 12-to-34-year-olds, would boost the city's cool factor and help it retain recent college graduates.

But within four days, Bunim/Murray had incurred the wrath of the unions by hiring a nonunion company to renovate the former Seamen's Church Institute in Old City, where the cast was to live.

The series had sidestepped organized labor in 13 previous cities, including union strongholds New York City, Chicago and Boston, without incident.

"Every other production company comes in, sits down and bargains," said Tony Frasco, vice president of Teamsters Local 107, whose members drive and unload vehicles. "The unions are not out to gouge anybody, but this is a union town."

It's a matter of "preserving the way of life in Philadelphia," said Pat Gillespie, business manager of the Philadelphia Building Trades Council.

Sharon Pinkenson, head of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, worked years to bring The Real World to town. She said she had been aware that Bunim/Murray wanted to go nonunion.

"I recommended that they speak with other producers of nonunion reality television" who had worked here, Pinkenson said. She said work rules in reality TV tend to be looser.

Pinkenson said she did not know if Bunim/Murray sought the advice of those producers.

The MTV series' high profile may have heightened the unions' interest. When it came time to set up the building, next to the Betsy Ross House at Third and Arch Streets, Bunim/Murray hired a construction company that had been picketed by the carpenters at other job sites. That set off fireworks.

For two weeks, Teamsters, painters, carpenters and electricians picketed. A source close to the situation said Bunim/Murray was leery of striking a deal because it would set a precedent. The company also believed the unions might stage an on-camera protest during the four months of taping.

The pullout not only affects MTV, which was to debut Real World Philadelphia in September, but it could give a black eye to the city and its growing film and TV production industry.

Mayor Street disagreed. "I don't know it would be the end of the world," he said.

Bunim/Murray had planned to tape here through July. The company's spokeswoman said she did not know which city would replace Philadelphia.

The Real World broke ground for unscripted reality television when it debuted in 1992. Each season's seven cast members, ages 18 to 24, become household names as they are followed 24 hours a day, frolicking in hot tubs, hitting the bar scene and taking on nominal jobs. The show has been No. 1 in its time slot for seven consecutive seasons among 12-to-34-year-olds: That's four million viewers.

Meryl Levitz, head of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp., said last month that she expected The Real World to aid in her work with the Knowledge Industry Partnership, a college-student retention initiative.

If MTV chose a cast that "young people see as similar to them and presents Philadelphia as hip and desirable... you can't buy that kind of publicity," she said.

The pickets at the Real World building targeted Apple Construction of Holland, Bucks County. Bunim/Murray obtained from Common Pleas Court a preliminary injunction limiting the number of pickets at each entrance. And union leaders, including electricians union head John Dougherty, began talks with Bunim/Murray.

But the preparatory construction - which reportedly was about 70 percent completed - was only part of the unions' issue. The Teamsters demanded jobs once taping started.

Frasco, of the Teamsters, listed a number of locally shot TV and movie projects that have used union labor, including the CBS series Hack and Cold Case; the recent M. Night Shyamalan film The Village; and the forthcoming film In Her Shoes.

"If [Bunim/Murray chooses] to leave Philadelphia, that's their business," Frasco said. "It wasn't because of the unions. They'll just go to a town that will allow that."

The Real World's departure comes less than a year after the city, state and unions resolved a crippling labor controversy. At the Convention Center, union labor costs and ugly jurisdictional disputes chased away repeat business. New labor rules were negotiated last summer.

Since then, only one major trade show has booked a multi-day stay, the first in five years. The center is still trying to regain business from large professional associations. Many that came to Philadelphia from 1998 through 2000 did not return because of labor costs.

Philadelphia is the last bastion of union construction trades in a region that was a stronghold of union activity until the 1970s. Most construction in the Pennsylvania suburbs is done by nonunion workers.

Informed of Bunim/Murray's pullout, Jeff Zeh, president of the Southeast Pennsylvania chapter of Associated Builders & Contractors Inc., which represents nonunion contractors, said, "What else is new in Philadelphia?

"You saw the list of the cities where they've produced their projects, and Philadelphia is the only one where they had a problem," he said. "It really is a sad commentary."

"We ask for fair wages and benefits, and [then they] make a fuss and take their ball and go home - what kind of real world do they represent?" said Gillespie, of the Building Trades Council. "We'll be called the Neanderthals and the pug uglies because of what we're trying to do."


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[33girl]

All I can say is if BMP & MTV thought they were going to get anything done in Philly without the unions, they're dumber than I thought.

And it's not the city's "fault" it's the choice of the Teamsters Union.

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by 33girl
All I can say is if BMP & MTV thought they were going to get anything done in Philly without the unions, they're dumber than I thought.

And it's not the city's "fault" it's the choice of the Teamsters Union.

I've been a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the American Federation of Radio and Television Artists and the Directors Guild of America, so I don't think I can rightfully be called anti-labor.

But, I've also been a part of management for many years and hope I can look at this both ways.

The fact is that the Union took a hard line and drove the production away. They don't realize that the days of having two Teamsters with a cart, costing $175 per hour, with an hour minimum, to carry a box of paper, and some pencils to a skybox in Detroit for a political convention are over. And, yes, that really happened when I was there, because it was my budget the $175 came out of.

In this case, the city lost, and the union didn't win anything either.

Most of organized labor new realizes that compromise is a necessary part of doing business.

[33girl]

I'm not pro-union or anti-union, just stating that whether its time is past or not, Philly is still a union town, and MTV was stupid to think they could sidestep it.

I also wonder how they would have handled the bar issue, because you can't even go IN a bar in PA if you're under 21.

[maggieaxid]

These issues always come up in Philly. This is one of the reasons on my very long list of why I am leaving. I've grown up in this town with a brief stint in NC for college and this city is dying. The politicians and city officials refuse to make concessions or change the way things are done. Not only do they run off entertainment ventures (i.e. MTV, Banyan Productions, and several movies and TV shows) which provide free publicity. But they also make it difficult to visit the city or even go out in it at night by not providing public transportation after 10pm, even on the weekends! (yet another union decision!) Week after week and month after month unions are constantly threatening to strike. This is yet another example.

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by 33girl
I'm not pro-union or anti-union, just stating that whether its time is past or not, Philly is still a union town, and MTV was stupid to think they could sidestep it.

I also wonder how they would have handled the bar issue, because you can't even go IN a bar in PA if you're under 21.

And I don't defend anyone who does work for MTV necessarily. But, as the article pointed out, they were able to work in NYC, Chicago and Boston -- three traditionally tough union towns, so I guess they simply assumed they would be able to in Philly.

[Glitter650]

Originally posted by 33girl
I'm not pro-union or anti-union, just stating that whether its time is past or not, Philly is still a union town, and MTV was stupid to think they could sidestep it.

I also wonder how they would have handled the bar issue, because you can't even go IN a bar in PA if you're under 21.

You can't go IN a bar anywhere if you're uner 21 right ? unless it's like the bar at TGI Friday's and even then you're not supposed to sit at the bar. at least that's how it is in Cali... some clubs you can go in if you're 18 and they wrist band the 21 and up.. but if its' just a little bar.. you have to be 21 to step foot inside...

[33girl]

You can go in a TGIFriday's type place - I don't know about sitting at the bar there - but if it is a nightclub or Joe's Corner Bar Full Of Scary Old Men, you're not even allowed to step inside.

There are some (very few) places that put on all ages shows but if you want to drink you are either on another floor completely or in a cage-type structure. Needless to say they haven't been very successful because it's such a repulsive environment, and the bartenders/owners treat the underage kids like shit because they're not drinking.