There’s no business like show business.
But if you are a reality television producer, show business has become more about survival and less about getting rich chasing your dreams in Hollywood.
"When I worked on ‘The Bachelor’ for five seasons, at the time a lot of us were being woefully underpaid,” reality television producer Jon Collins told FOX Business.
Collins is one of many in Hollywood working long hours producing your reality show favorites under stressful working conditions.
“At one point on ‘The Bachelor,’ I was working as a post-production coordinator — 65 hours a week — making $850 each week, which is probably less than half of what that position should be paid, and I was not paid a shred of overtime.”
ABC, which broadcasts "The Bachelor" declined to comment.
The challenges don’t stop with the undervalued salary, many are asked to work long hours and endure other unfair practices.
"They will pay you a weekly salary, without giving you any overtime, but if you are sick or miss a day, they dock your pay for the time you are out,” Collins said.
He eventually had, had enough on one show: "I quit," he said.
With the explosion of streaming services like Apple+, Disney+, Hulu and Netflix all spending large amounts of cash for binge-worthy classics like "Friends," "The Big Bang Theory" and original scripted content, like "Stranger Things" or "The Handmaids Tale," reality TV production is becoming a casualty of the industry.
"Scripted television has exploded over the last few years and a lot of the streaming networks, have been slow to add reality programming onto their services,” Collins says. “Also, reality TV has been around for a while so a lot of the shock value is gone. So a lot of people are watching it less and less.”
"We are all getting squeezed in reality TV but there is plenty of money in the industry," Collins said. "If HBO Max can pay $500 million or whatever they paid for ‘The Big Bang Theory,’ then certainly reality TV producers can be paid a fair wage too."
Without a script, it is up to the producer to create engaging plotlines for reality shows like "Keeping up with the Kardashians" or "Project Runway." But the reality producer is not compensated the same as a writer on a scripted series who may enjoy residuals for years after writing a show.
"I am getting paid for my creative ideas and storytelling powers, then when the show airs on streaming services here or overseas, all these companies and networks are getting paid off of my work, I don't," Collins said. "I don't get any residual payments for my work even though my episodes of 'Project Runway' are on Hulu right now, people watch them, and I don't get any money from that."