Two Hollywood Events.

Two events occurred in the movie industry in Hollywood in the fall of 2021.

First, a tragic work accident claimed the life of Halnya Hutchins, the cinematographer and wounded Joel Souza, the director on the low-budget Hollywood movie Rust.

The accident occurred when actor Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun that had real bullets in it. A police investigation is underway.

Hours before the fatal accident a half-dozen camera crew workers walked off the set to protest working conditions.

The camera operators and their assistants were frustrated by the conditions surrounding the low-budget film, including complaints about long hours, long commutes and waiting for their paychecks, according to three people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment.

Safety protocols standard in the industry, including gun inspections, were not strictly followed on the RUST set and at least one of the camera operators complained last weekend to a production manager about gun safety on the set.

Second, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees announced that 60,000 members who work in television and film production across the country voted—by a nearly unanimous margin—to grant IATSE International President Matthew Loeb the authority to call a strike. This is the first time in IATSE’s 128-year history that members of the union have authorized a nationwide strike.

The high member-voter turnout and nearly unanimous strike vote was prompted by the working conditions of crews on movies and the dramatic increase of profit by the producers. 

“We’ve lost so much year after year, but now they have our collective voice. They have more of our heart than they’ve ever had in the history of IATSE, because IATSE has never been so big and we’ve never had a profound social movement like this before. This is a once-in-a-lifetime historic breaking point.” Said Heather Fink, film worker.

The Instagram account “IATSE stories” has posts of film workers stories.

“I worked 75 hours in 4 days the last week I was on a production when I was 8 months pregnant . The last night we shot 20 hours and the executive producer turned around and said (towards the end) “I feel bad, can’t you just go home?” Well, we had 5 actors and 30 plus background on set and I was not about to leave my set partner alone to watch and wrap all those people so the answer was “ No, I can’t . Please just stop adding set ups”. Needless to say they did all the coverage and I was there 3 more hours and walked to my car alone very pregnant in the dark after midnight.”

“I feel your pain, married for 23 years to a lighting director . Never, never home :( marriage ended.”

“I complained about how BG (background performers) was treated on one set and was told "that's just how it's always been." Ok, but that doesn't make it right to treat humans like animals.”

Netflix will release more than 70 movies online in 2021, at the same time or shortly after they appear in theaters. Amazon Prime Video and Hulu will release dozens more. Waterhouse Cooper in a new report has predicted that streaming video will generate a massive $94 billion in revenues by the end of 2025, up 60 percent from 2020. Players like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney Plus, will be buoyed in 2025 by a whopping $81billion.

On October 17, an agreement was reached between IATSE and the movie producers and the members are now voting whether to accept or reject the offer.

 Judas and the Black Messiah costume designer Charlese Antoinette Jones said, “Part of me wanted us to strike and put real pressure on AMPTP (producer’s association) to meet our demands. I do know I’m hearing mixed opinions. IATSE leadership says it’s a good deal yet a lot of IATSE members are saying it’s not enough.” 

A Change.org petition started by a self-described Local 728 member to vote “no” to ratify the tentative agreement has over 1,500 signatures. “We gave them 98 percent authorization to Strike for Radical change. Our leaders said they reach an agreement and to go back to work. The outline they sent was scant on details and doesn’t nearly cover our demands. We want our leaders back at the table and put a strike back on the table. The time for change is now,” the petition reads.