February 2014:

Film crew member Sarah Jones is killed on a film set by a train, and other crew are injured. It makes the headlines for a day or two.

The director of that production takes a plea deal a year later to protect his producer wife. So there is no trial, and it is completely forgotten by the public.

Film crew across the industry still remember, but not much changes.

https://www.ajc.com/blog/buzz/guilty-plea-avoids-trial-for-midnight-rider-director/g8gAQ00RN9ap9CNcgHXZ9H/

March 2020:

Covid shuts down the industry, and for the first time in maybe ever, many film crew have a long stretch of time off to realize how much their work beats them down unnecessarily.

Real sleep! What a concept!

2021, in the months leading up to October:

Things start getting back to normal and film productions come back in a huge surge. Working long hours again for the first time in months is extra brutal. Minimum workday for any crew member is 12 hours, plus now they have to wear masks - making the long hours even more exhausting.

After the unexpected break, producers are in a rush to create more content, because Hollywood is running out of new stuff. They throw money at the problem so they can get crew to work longer hours and more days. Many productions are working their departments 7 days a week with no days off.

IATSE union film crew start sharing horror stories online about what it's like to work in Hollywood. They want issues addressed when a new deal is made by union bosses with production companies.

Negotiations are scheduled for October, as happens every few years.

(I think the biggest mistake crew made during negotiations was focusing too much on pay. No one cares how much you don't make when you willingly took the job in the first place. Address the abuse before asking for more money and you'll have a lot more support! Productions already pay plenty of "shut up and do the work" money. Everyone can be bought for a price.)

Monday, Oct 4:

Nearly 90% of IATSE members vote whether or not to authorize a strike.

98.68% vote Yes and are willing to strike.

Strike will happen on Monday, October 18 if deal is not reached.

Saturday, Oct 16:

Multiple accidental gun misfires plague a shooting practice on Rust set. (The film is set in the 1880s and guns being used are antiques or replicas that do not have the same safety features and mechanics that modern guns have. See this Twitter thread - https://mobile.twitter.com/tavera1984/status/1452104935877849092 )

Crew complains and nothing appears to be done to increase safety procedures.

Monday, Oct 18:

Work continues as usual.

Industry-wide crew strike doesn't happen after all, because union bosses made a "deal" over the weekend.

Crew on every production across the country was more than ready to walk. And now they aren't happy with the supposed deal.

If members vote down the deal, next chance for an actual strike looks like it would happen over Christmas holiday hiatus, when productions will be shut down anyway. There is widespread crew bitterness posted all across social media.

Wednesday, October 20:

Rust crew are not paid weekly paychecks for third time. (I don't know if paychecks were just being handed out a day or two late each week, or they were actually three weeks behind with no payments. Both situations have happened on past productions I have worked.)

That night, the entire Rust camera department, except the DP (director of photography, head of the department) and one camera operator, write resignation letters (see second photo below) listing safety, lack of payment, and housing issues (crew was being expected to commute 50 miles before & after work each day) as reasons.

The Rust UPM (unit production manager) - the guy in charge of logistics, who makes sure all the work gets done: scheduling, hiring/firing, etc - sends out a text at 10:30pm to other camera crew (not on production), trying to fill the department with new crew by 6:30 the next morning. (see pic 3 below)

Those kind of last minute job offer texts are full of red flags, and anyone with any experience knows better than to say yes to an offer like that. Crew is disposable and replaceable, and it's best not to walk into a bad situation. (I myself turned down a very similar text a couple days ago for something.)

Thursday, October 21:

Rust crew call around 6:30am

Camera department shows up to collect their gear and walk. A producer yells at them and threatens to call security if they don't leave immediately.

I'm guessing a lot of other departments had a lot of crew turnover besides the camera department. According to one article the union "Local 44 has confirmed that the Props, Set Decoration, Special Effects, and Construction Departments were staffed by New Mexico crew members." -But!- "There were no Local 44 members on the [Thursday's] call sheet."

That tells me they either quit and hadn't been replaced yet, or they were listed as O/C (on call), meaning department heads could call them to come in, but they weren't expected to be on set without a call from someone first. (Construction is very rarely ever on set with the rest of crew because art department has them working elsewhere on sets for the days coming up next in the shot schedule.)

That afternoon just before 2pm

A cart of prop guns was left unsecured and unattended near set. (Whhyyyy?? Why was it not at least locked?)

News has come out that the head Armorer in charge of guns is 24 years old, and this was only her second job (and first as head of department). It is highly unusual for someone so young to be department head on a big production, no matter which department they work. My guess is no one with years of experience wanted the job, or someone got a job because of a favor.

The 1st AD (assistant director) walks by the prop cart and grabs a gun, assuming it's cold (not loaded with live rounds).

Now let's pause for a minute to discuss part of what the 1st AD's job is. He is the "dad" of the set. (One 1st AD I have worked with many times is actually nicknamed "Dad" on the crew radio.) He is supposed to make sure the set is organized and safe (exits aren't blocked, cables aren't trip hazards, etc) and that the crew knows what's happening over the radio at all times.

At this point, a good AD would see an unsecured and unattended weapons cart and come to a standing stop right there. He'd radio Props to find out where they were. It would probably involve a stern talking-to over on channel 2, where nosy crew might eavesdrop, especially if he sounded mad when he called for Props on channel 1.

But sadly that isn't how it was handled on the set of Rust.

Instead, the 1st AD takes a gun he assumes is cold and hands it off to Alec Baldwin, probably without letting Props know he even took it. (Rule number one on set is don't touch other people's stuff, and if you do, you had better let them know!)

Alec takes the gun and just assumes everything is safe. The DP Halyna Hutchins sadly pays with her life.

I've heard differing reports that Alec was either goofing around (actors tend to do silly things when some of the crew is working around them and they are chatting with other crew who aren't busy) or they were setting up a dangerous camera shot and he was told to point the gun where he did.

The Aftermath: random details & questions

The misfires happened on a Saturday. And an actor who was scheduled to film his scenes on Sunday after the accident was called by the costume department on Friday to be told the filming had been canceled.

Was the Rust crew working 7 days a week?

When crew is working 12+ hour days every day with a long commute, people are functioning at drunk levels. I have been there, and after a 19 hour day at the end of a long work week with a commute home, I know I'm dangerous.

The media is reporting the inexperienced crew members as being non-union. Experience has nothing to do with whether someone is union or not. I and plenty of other people I know in the business have either been union at some point and left, or never bothered to join because they had a skill-set that was hard to find, and didn't need to "be union" to get work. There are plenty of inexperienced union members, and the union tends to encourage the Peter Principle - people usually rise to the level of their incompetence and then blame others below them when things go wrong.

Crew know they are disposable and easily replaced so they put up with a lot of abuse for fear of losing their jobs. I've worked with multiple people younger than I am, who have privately expressed they don't feel like they can do the job they've been asked to do. But they never tell anyone they can't do something if asked by a higher up.

Alec Baldwin was an executive producer for Rust. Ultimately, this was his movie in more ways than one. His signature and reputation is on a lot of the legal documents for the production, which means he is responsible for crew safety.

The 1st AD has a history of running an unsafe set. https://nypost.com/2021/10/24/alec-baldwin-assistant-director-had-history-of-unsafe-practices/?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=NYPTwitter&utm_medium=SocialFlow

How many experienced crew turned down a job on Rust because he was working it, leading to a large number of inexperienced (union or not) people taking jobs just because they were too green to know any better?

When Halyna was shot, the script supervisor was standing next to her. Scripty didn't stop to find out what was happening - she apparently just ran away. She made the call to 911 with only the knowledge that someone had been accidentally shot, but didn't know much more about what was going on.

Was the lack of safety on set so palpable that she fled out of instinct?

With all that's happened, I doubt the movie Rust will ever be completed. I truly hope some necessary changes are made for film crew across the industry and this doesn't just disappear with a plea deal, like last time.

#filmcrew