There are many things that I think anyone considering working for or with 1iota should know. First of all - they profile, by race, gender, age, and level of attractiveness. This varies according to show, and while some of this trickles down from production requests, the terms I've heard the owners and project managers use to describe what they considered undesirable audience members are truly horrendous. They make you seat members of the audience in sections based on race and looks, and the way in which they organize this system is not at all subtle. While my fellow audience coordinators were some of the kindest people I've met who truly cared about others, it was obvious that higher ups barely saw audience members as humans, often denying the audience access to water on a hot day or access to the bathrooms. I've literally had audience members pass out on me due to dehydration. Second - the way the shows are staffed and how people get promoted seem to be entirely related to how friendly you are with managers and other higher ups. Project managers had intimate relationships with several audience coordinators, which seemed to hold the key to getting staffed on more shows, usually over staff members who had been working for the company for several years, creating a very tense and predatory work environment. Third - scheduling was a complete nightmare. If an audience coordinator had an emergency and had to miss a shift, they would be punished by not being staffed more several weeks. Fourth - we rarely got lunch breaks (or any breaks), especially during larger award shows that ran for 14+ hours and were not compensated for overtime. This job requires lots of physical activity as well as being exposed to extreme heat, so having no breaks and no food was incredibly dangerous. Fifth - management will often mention that this job can be a good stepping stone to move on to other jobs in the entertainment industry, but will do their best to blacklist you if you manage to make a connection on a show you're working on, we all saw this happen several times. Lastly, this company has no loyalty to its employees. Some employees who loved the job, loved the work, and were committed to the company got let go after over 5 years with the company and given no real explanation. I'm long gone from this company, but the things that I saw and experienced there still haunt me. Please think twice before applying for a job here, because trust me, there are better options out there.
