Support Change in "Hollywood"
It's time for big change in the industry's labor practices.
UPDATE as of 10/13/21:
& Here is the IATSE Film and Television Negotiations Toolkit
Many social movements have called for change in the entertainment industry from #PayUpHollywood that asked for the industry to increase pay for assistants to the #metoo movement that has demanded abusers be prosecuted and held accountable. The next biggest push is for change in the contracts that set the working conditions and hours for crew members in “Hollywood,” which is critically needed. I use quotation marks on the big “H” because the reality is that Hollywood is a city in the middle of Los Angeles where there is a major studio, Paramount as well as a few smaller studios, stage locations, and behind-the-scenes business that happens but it’s not where most of the work of your favorite films and television shows are produced. “Hollywood” extends to sets where shows are filmed across the country and the world.
To make this industry move, we rely on the labor of thousands of crew members, most of who belong to the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Pictures Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts (IATSE), the labor union that represents 150,000 crew members across the country. IATSE consists of many local unions of artisans, technicians and craftspeople that work in live theater, concerts, motion picture and television production, trade shows, broadcasting and the equipment and construction shops that support these areas across the entertainment industry. Their jobs include camera operators, editors, lighting technicians and the crew members who make all of our favorite films and television shows.
Those of us who work in the film and television business have known that the “magic” of the movies and the glamour of your favorite celebrity comes at the hardworking hands of thousands of crew members who arrive early, hours before, and also who leave the set hours after all of the “above the line” talent like actors.
So, what is the line? The line refers to the top sheet of the budget of a production where there is a line that separates the well-paid producers, writers, actors and directors like me with the rest of the costs associate with production. “Below this line” are all of the crew members that work 12-hour+ days (usually as the standard) but too often their hours extend to 14, 16 or 18 hour days with no “turnaround time,” which is the amount of time a crew member has until they must return to set at their call time.
During our turnaround time we drive, shower, eat, see our loved ones, watch our children sleep, do laundry, grocery shop and try to take care of our lives. Actors are guaranteed a 12-hour turnaround unless the show pays for a “forced call” or a return time that is less than this. For all of us who work on set this time is often compressed into small bits that allow us to drive home, shower, eat and hopefully sleep. Weekends are not a guarantee. Too often shoots are scheduled for a “6th day” which can be also be a “Fraturday” which could include a very late call time, say at 2P or 6P which means wrap at 2A or 6A on Saturday. Also, for the record, at wrap the above-the-line folks like me say thank you (hopefully, although I’ve learned some of my director peers never say thank you to the crew, but that may be content for a future post), and we leave. Some departments like camera, lighting, sound and props have cables to wrap, carts to load and trucks to pack, if our next shoot day is at another stage or in a different location.
Watch this clip of crew on Netflix and Amazon projects that breaks down key issues.
Imagine not having many hours of sleep day after day and week after week, working long hours on your feet, not having a weekend and many times you don’t get a weekend because after that “Fraturday” you are called back to work at 6A on Monday. And on top of these long hours many crew members are not able to leave the set for any period of time, like the script supervisors, who can’t miss the filming of a shot and between takes have endless notes to prepare for the editors. Many script supervisor friends have shared that they have developed UTIs and bladder infections from lack of water and not using the restroom on a regular basis.
The instagram page @ia_stories has been sharing hundreds of anonymous stories of its membership. Here’s a taste of the powerful personal narratives posted today:
This social media feed is doing heavy lifting, using personal narratives to impact awareness and has helped to galvanize the most support from “above the line” crew.
For these reasons and so many more, the members of IATSE have almost unanimously voted to authorize a strike, which if it is called, will be the first since 1945. The IATSE contract with the Alliance of Motion Pictures and Television Producers, the AMPTP, which is a bit mis-leading because these aren’t the producers of your favorite shows but rather the industry trade organization that is responsible for negotiating virtually all of the contracts for the entertainment industry unions and guilds. They represent the networks, the studios, the streamers and the big industry money.
Today marks the sixth day of their contract negotiations and everyone is watching socials for news of a deal or a strike. The IATSE president shared, “It’s a matter of days, not weeks” in this recent Deadline article. I wish I could predict what will happen contractually, but I’m most interested in the recent chorus of voices who are sharing their story and rallying for change.
Let me say that while I’m a guild member and belong to the Directors Guild of America (DGA), which represents directors, assistant directors, associate directors, stage managers and some production assistants (PAs), I’m not an expert on unions and don’t have any insider information on what’s going to happen with negotiations but I am a director who works in episodic television. A factor to consider is that directors work job to job with breaks in between episodes is very different than that of crew members who work on set for long hours with no breaks every single day for months.
I have read on social media and been tagged and commented by former students and industry friends that directors should be more prepared and make our days (not go over the 12 hours of allotted shooting hours). While I hear stories of directors abusing crew and not coming prepared, I am a director who comes to set prepared and still the days are long. We work hard for long hours and then I get to leave while the crew is wrangling cables, packing carts and preparing for our next long day. Typically I shoot 12 hours and only a few times in my career have exceeded the allowable time for filming by less than half an hour.
In my role as director I make hundreds if not thousands of creative decisions per day, and if I’m not prepared I could easily derail a shooting schedule and not make my day. I am director who works hard in prep: I plan the blocking of the actors, the placement and movement of the cameras (in collaboration with the director of photography and camera operators) and while I have a say in things like shooting schedule, it is ultimately that’s up to the Line Producers, Producers and Assistant Directors who are beholden to budgets that a show is allotted by a studio - the food chain runs high and right now blame is far and wide-reaching.
The short answer is that we have all been a bit complicit in pushing the hours, asking for grace (15 minutes of shooting into lunch) and meal penalties (payments for working into the lunch hour which allow us to complete a scene which ultimately saves us time on the day), since we can move to the next set-up or location after lunch. I know how hard this is on the crew and still I have done it regularly. I know I can’t impact the contract or fix climate on set but I am prepared, mindful and want to be part of the labor and cultural changes in Hollywood and “Hollywood.”
Similarly, I see producer friends who support IATSE but want to combat the misinformation of blame, like this post by film and television producer Nina Yang Bongiovi (Godfather of Harlem, Sorry to Bother You, Dope, Fruitvale) who shares:
These conditions are a big “Hollywood” money issue - streamers like Netflix pay less than traditional studios because they are still operating under an old “new media” agreement which dates backs to the 1980s, see this detailed explanation here.
Still, I think the protest chant, the whole damn system is guilty as hell, is relevant here. We are all complicit and have been in collusion with our own oppression, as bell hooks explained. Entertainment industry labor has all bought into the “Hollywood” mentality and acceptance of the way things are, to some degree. On most days we show up for work, we work the long hours, we drink energy drinks and coffee like it’s water, we sleep in our cars at lunch and some of us use “pee cups” so we don’t leave transpo trucks and vans that transport cast, crew and gear around the locations.
The reality is I can do none of my job on set, the actual filming without IATSE crew members. I can’t deliver my episode without the help of assistant editors and editors who are also IATSE crew members. If this union decides to strike, I will support them. I will sit on the bench. I will not get a paycheck. That’s the gig economy.
And what’s scary, weird and confusing is my union’s official policy and response. In a meeting a guild member announced we must report to work due to our non-strike clause outlined here. The DGA is the most powerful guild in the industry, so thankfully our leadership issued official support for IATSE. posted on DGA socials:
I did hear from a guild friend that if a strike happens, the teamsters will organize picket lines quickly and “no one crosses the line.” Y’all better not. I support my crew friends, all union brothers and sisters and I believe a cultural shift in the machine that glamorizes exploitation. We all love the content that we produce so much that we act like it’s normal to work long hours with no awareness of your next call time is, or what the next filming location will be, although the producers know as the filming schedules are planned weeks in advance and typically just shift slightly due to late days or weather. Most don’t know when you will get off or when you might be able to visit a doctor or wonder what will happen if you get sick with something more serious. Industry elders struggle with health problems because the intensity of their on-set work has destroyed their bodies and left them with little pensions to take care of them. We have to change policy and the culture of acceptance of this. Labor exploitation has got to go. There’s plenty of money to fund more equitable practices.
The climate of “this is the way we do it” and “if you don’t want to work, others will come and take your job'' instills fear in crew members and is the way many department heads have systemically terrorized new and young production assistants. Many normalize working conditions that center a culture of threats and fear. Also important to note is that PAs, the entry-level workers on set and in production offices, aren’t covered by union protection - they must earn 600 days on a union show to join the DGA. This is the entertainment industry’s gig economy as it’s most exploitative.
So for all of these reasons and more, big industry labor changes must come now.
Support IATSE. Follow: @IATSE / IA Solidarity
To keep current on the on-going negotiations: IATSE homepage
& If you want to learn more here are recent articles that help break it down:
Variety: Hollywood Leaders Need to Hear What IATSE is Really Asking For
IATSE Press Release: By A Nearly Unanimous Margin, IATSE Members in TV and Film Production Vote to Authorize a Nationwide Strike
The Atlantic:The People Who Make Your Favorite Movies and Shows are Fed Up