Bad Wine TV Show Also Bad at Paying People

So the PBS television program Vine Talk — the sad, insane parody of itself — is in all kinds of alleged trouble for not paying people. The Times' Media Decoder reports that WNET, the New York City public broadcaster, which rented its new Lincoln Center studio for the show, has not been paid around $500,000. Joe Locarro, the program's director and an executive producer said that he was owed "in the six figures."

Even host and producer (through his Olive Productions) Stanley Tucci is bailing on the show: "Olive hasn't been paid, Stanley has only received a small portion of his fee, and they have withdrawn from the project for that reason," said a rep for Steve Buscemi, Tucci's Olive Productions partner.

Word to Eater is that guest celebrities/chefs were promised $1,000 for their appearance as an "honorarium" but haven't been paid either. And worse: Apparently the the crew hasn't been paid. The show's producers, Jersey Wooly Productions, meanwhile, assured the New York Post: "Some payments have been a lot slower than we have planned, but all the people, crew and staff that worked on the show have been paid in full or a good percentage of what they were due. Everyone will be paid completely." A second season is already planned.

· ‘Vine Talk’ Participants Complain of Not Being Paid [Media Decoder/NYT]
· All Vine Talk Coverage on Eater [-E-]