It’s no secret that Hollywood and the film industry has taken a financial hit from the pandemic. Despite the success of recent blockbusters like “No Time to Die” and “Dune”, the industry is still adjusting to return to its original state. However, with this adjustment comes the risk of negligence and abuse, as the recent tragedy involving Alec Baldwin’s shooting of Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” has shown.
Since the production of major motion pictures resumed this year, many crew members have reported absurdly long hours, low wages, and few breaks. In an interview with NPR, Ben Gottlieb, a member of the IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) spoke about getting in contact with other mistreated crew members through Instagram, and went on record to say that his “longest day on that job was 19.5 hours.”
Gottleib and other members of the IATSE’s grievances can definitely explain how poor working conditions on the set of “Rust” could’ve led to the fatal shooting. While the prop handlers are not completely free of responsibility, it’s not inconceivable that tired, overworked, crew members could’ve been irresponsible in their handling of a prop gun that had misfired before.
Despite the IATSE coming to an agreement with studios five days prior to the incident, it seems like that production companies have not gone through with their promises of safety and improved working conditions. Conditions were already so bad on the set of “Rust” that crew members had already walked off because of safety concerns and low wages.
While it’s still unclear why live ammunition was on set, armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed’s insisted that she had “no idea” where the live ammunition came from, speaks more about the disorder onset than her own competence. Plenty of evidence points to the possibility of prop handlers or other safety people being cut because of costs or simply leaving the production.
According to the New York Post and Vanity Fair, some crew members in charge of the props were hired to replace union workers who were possibly affiliated with IATSE. From a production angle, it seems that many decisions were made to avoid meeting the conditions of the IATSE’s agreement.
While a lot of responsibility is placed on crew members to ensure the safety of a production, actors handling guns should also be properly trained with firearms. The rigorous weapons-training that Keanu Reeves did for the “John Wick” films should be industry standard. With even a basic course in firearms, Baldwin should’ve learned the number one rule of gun safety, that any Concealed Carry Instructor will tell you: “always treat the gun as if it’s loaded.”
With major film production shut down for so long, Hollywood and the film industry have been desperate to produce new content. While a strike isn’t ideal for anyone, more pressure on the film industry for better working conditions could prevent many other tragedies such as this one.
It’s understandable that studios would want to resume production after such a long content drought. However, content and costs should never come before the safety and wellbeing of their workers.
The death of Hutchins is certainly a tragedy, but if anything comes of it, I hope that it serves as a reminder to studios that negligence and cost-cutting in productions can be fatal. No movie is worth a life.