Film-set tragedies

Zensteve said:
I'm unable to find the NY Times article right now, with quotes from William Hurt
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Well, colour me dumb. Turns out it was the LA Times, and I found it minutes later. :blush:

http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...y-20140322,0,7850548,full.story#axzz2wj2vNkEP

Hurt declined to comment, but he described what happened in an email to a friend. In that email, obtained by The Times, Hurt said he was twice assured that the bridge was safe for filming. He then asked "how long the crew had to get off if by some impossible chance another train came" and was told 60 seconds.

"I said, 'Sixty seconds is not enough time to get us off this bridge.' There was a communal pause. No one backed me up. Then, we ..... Just went ahead. I took off my shoes, got on the heavy, metal hospital bed and began preparing," Hurt wrote. Then the train came. "We didn't have sixty seconds. We had less than thirty."
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Fwiw, there's been an uptick in general safety messages on set recently - sad that it takes a tragedy to bump these back up. :(
 
Such a tragedy.
2 people on the lookout a few or more miles up and down the railway could have saved some lifes.
 
Yeah, I think it's gonna be pretty serious, the charges.

Here's another great article, that's very relevant but a bit of a tangent - it talks about the previous film commisioner of Savannah (Jay Self), who was fired for not rubber-stamping film permits and replaced with someone who apparently likes to play ball.

http://www.deadline.com/2014/04/sarah-jones-death-midnight-rider-accident-randall-miller-safety/

In another email dated July 2, 2012, Self warns Shearouse that Unclaimed Freight “didn’t honor the agreements they made last time. There is no indication this behavior will change. I have no power to enforce permit provisions or conditions… Our agreement puts all liability on them unless we are negligent. I see not enforcing the conditions we set as negligent, since those parameters are specifically set to avoid injury to others (physical, financial).”
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...and heh... if you ever wanted an example of why innapropriately nabbing a producer credit could come back to bite you in the ass...

Paddison, who received a co-producer credit on CBGB and told local paper Connect Savannah the credit "was more of a joke" granted in return for helping to settle issues with parking passes
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...possibly on the hook as a producer on Miller's previous film, though all he did was chummy up some parking paperwork. When questions come up, of course you head to the producers.

Edit: I'm a chucklehead. This is same article I posted earlier.
 
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People have been risking their lives for film since it began.

keaton-house_5.jpg


But it's definitely a different ballgame to mislead people about permissions, etc and have them take risks they didn't know they were accepting. I can see why manslaughter applies in this case, I just hope it doesn't snowball into something greater in situations where cast or crew were fully aware of what they were doing
 
It's a terrible shame, first of all to the person who lost their life and for those who were injured.

Maybe this goes to show that ethics should be taught at film school. Or, for that matter, online. Film Riot, are you listening? For all I know they've already done an ethics for filmmakers episode. If not, there's an idea, F.R.

But yeah, ethics. Guerilla filmmaking rocks! Yeah!! But, let's not forget the ethics, shall we?

Like Google's mission statement says (not like they're exactly a shining example, but...): do no evil.

I feel bad for Gregg Allman, of whom I've become a fan lately, who probably had nothing to do with it other than giving the filmmakers permission and money. It's a terrible tragedy, but the lawsuit probably names him only because they want his money.

Anyway, the lesson is: safety first, right?
 
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