The Jigsaw Productions union covers 50 freelance employees in roles including associate producer, co-producer, field producer, segment producer, post producer and others that the union did not identify. Unionizing employees previously advocated for producers, showrunners, production managers and production accountants to be included, but not all titles that the union initially hoped to join the bargaining unit were ultimately included.

Following freelancers employed by the company announcing that a majority had signed union cards in May, the group has said that the primary concerns they want to address in unionizing are diversity and inclusion, pay, credits and fostering more sustainable working conditions. Unionizing employees also have said they were inspired by Jigsaw’s own content — as the producer of investigative titles like HBO’s The Crime of the Century and The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley and Netflix’s How to Fix a Drug Scandal — to endeavor to make changes internally. “Recognizing our union is an opportunity for @JigsawProds to align its brand and internal business practices to the progressive values they show in their content,” the Jigsaw Freelancers Union account tweeted in July.

While unionizing employees were in talks with Jigsaw Productions, the Jigsaw Freelancers Union Twitter account shared testimonials from what it said were anonymous freelancers at the company, speaking about diversity concerns, promotions and long working hours. The account tweeted at one point that Jigsaw adheres to a “flat-rate” model where workers are not paid for overtime or working on the weekends, and that the company had not agreed to a five-day work week. (Working hours and wage battles aren’t uncommon in the non-union nonfiction space: 85 percent of respondents to a Nonfiction “Union” survey of nonfiction and documentary television workers in 2020 said they had worked overtime and weekends without overtime pay in the previous five years.) “We love our work, but the nature of production should not be exploitation,” the account tweeted. Jigsaw Productions did not reply to The Hollywood Reporter‘s request for comment.

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