Premium Member Brad Grimmett Posted November 11, 2004 Premium Member Share Posted November 11, 2004 This kind of work can be very dangerous. Two years ago a crew member in Toronto passed out at the wheel of his car on the way home after a 14+ hour day. He was killed. Movies are just not worth that kind of risk. RDCB <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I guess it depends on who you are as to whether it's worth it or not.... There have been many many film related deaths and injuries. I have one friend who was in a condor when it tipped over, and another who was in a scissor lift when it tipped over. Luckily, neither of them were killed, but both fell from about 30 feet up and were very seriously injured. A crew member died on the set of Spiderman, as well as the X-Files and The Truman Show. Probably the most famous example of someone dying because of long hours was Brent Hershman. He fell asleep at the wheel after a 19 hour day of shooting on "Pleasantville" and died when his car crashed. "Brent's rule" was suppossed to help protect crew members by limiting a day of shooting to 14 hours. It was a good idea, but I don't think anyone has changed their ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dpforum1968 Posted November 11, 2004 Share Posted November 11, 2004 Well I have a 15 month old son, I don't know how my wife would explain to him in later years that daddy didn't come home because he worked 20 hours on a film set and then crashed his car. There are others to consider here. I would never put myself at risk for a movie. Some one else can have the job, and get the screen credit. RDCB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt Pacini Posted November 11, 2004 Share Posted November 11, 2004 Where is the union on these types of situations? I know not all these examples are from union films, but some are, including the deaths you just mentioned. I mean, what good are they, if they're not even going to protect your basic safety? All the percs are irrelevant, if you're possibly going to actually die doing your job. Are they just there to collect their fees from your long hours, or what? Matt Pacini Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Phil Rhodes Posted November 11, 2004 Premium Member Share Posted November 11, 2004 Hi, A case in point has just come up. I've been offered seven days of camerawork at full corporate rates. Not exactly the world's most creative, but an attractive wedge of employment, especially with likely edit days afterwards. The shoots are all over the country, many hours' drive away, and are scheduled for 7pm to 2am - they're corporate entertainment. It's currently my intention to insist on overnight accomodation locally in each case - in some there's absolutely no choice; Glasgow is the best part of 800 miles away, and I'll fly - but I feel it's pretty unsafe to drive there, get in, shoot seven hours, pack up, then try to drive back in the small hours. Opinions? Phil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Gross Posted November 12, 2004 Share Posted November 12, 2004 You should absolutely insist on local accomodations for each day, and simply factor it into your bid. This should be a non-negotiable item for anything over an hour or two of travel when you're talking about long days, especially consecutive ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Belics Posted November 12, 2004 Share Posted November 12, 2004 Where is the union on these types of situations? On large shoots there are so many people I'm surprised the hours aren't tracked well, though, someone should notice. My son was only 13 or 14 and a featured extra on a set. One day he had 16 hours but nobody said anything. As the parent, I could have said something but he's a professional and was needed so, although exhausted, he's a trooper and wouldn't leave. To tell the truth, we were counting the dollars not the hours. BTW, if anyone can use a real pro 16-year old actor, let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Bass Posted November 22, 2004 Share Posted November 22, 2004 Can I join? I did 18 or so yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Yolles Posted November 25, 2004 Author Share Posted November 25, 2004 Referring back to the original post and the long hours... After the first half of the schedule, myself, my best boy and the entire electric department left that show due to disagreements over working time (signed 14hours per day + how ever long they went over) and equipment management (the line producer for some reason felt it necessary to keep messing around with my generator and in fact broke the star wagon's genny - I don't know why) So we went our seperate ways. While loading up for another feature today, they just happen to be returning their package. I talked to the replacement crew. Without us to there to control the runaway productions (my best and myself who regularly turned the genny off at the 14 hour mark), days were no less then 15-16 hours with regular 20 hour days and a 24 hour day. I truly believe it's those long hours adding up over the course of 4 weeks that caused all of the following. 1) Let a 12-light maxi go over a hill, 2) on another occasion drop the 12-light maxi, 3) rolled the 1400amp genny over a cliff (I don't know how)!!! and of course to finish off the fiasco 4) flipped the 5-ton truck!!! The driver was rushed to the hospital and luckily came out with minor injuries. I saw the pictures (tires facing the clouds) and the pile of the damaged. The truck was declared a total and sent to the scrap yard and the pile of Damaged took a good section of the warehouse and it was all damaged beyond repair as you can imagine. So there you go, trying to save a couple hundred dollars by working less days, yet longer days and instead you have a $100,000 - $200,000 G&E damage bill, not to mention the truck itself and you almost killed a man. I don't know how much insurance will cover that, but that's not the point. I'm just happy that the driver was alright and I'm very happy that I was not affiliated with that production at that time because we all knew it was heading in that direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Nathan Milford Posted November 25, 2004 Premium Member Share Posted November 25, 2004 Did it appear like production had learned thier lesson? Were they able to connect the dots or did they just pass it off to bad luck...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Yolles Posted November 25, 2004 Author Share Posted November 25, 2004 Did it appear like production had learned thier lesson? Were they able to connect the dots or did they just pass it off to bad luck...? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That's a damned good question. I hope so, and I hope other producers hear about it and are able to make the connection. They might just take this in to account as well... I did find out that that insurance doesn't want to cover the damage because: 1) A PA was driving it without the proper license 2) His license has some issues regarding a past DUI - specifically I don't know 3) The truck was over-loaded 4) The road has posted signs saying "no trucks over 5,000 lbs" while their truck- without being overloaded - is 10,000 lbs. Way to save money mr. line producer. I feel bad for the director because he's a good kid and he just lost his film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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