Voting end today. Eye-opening + tear-jerking stories of members reveal underlying conditions . . .

"We shouldn’t be begging for lunch breaks in 2021. . . we need to course correct. Right now, it's an industry I regret even getting into . . . “

“There’s this presentation of the industry as a dream factory, not only that we’re producing these fantastical stories but also that working in the industry is a dream come true," she said. "People outside the industry say they would work on a set for free if given the opportunity, but this isn’t one day. This is day after day, hundreds of days, thousands of hours with these conditions . . . “”

“Sleep is essential for long term brain health . . . if you have less than 5 hours of sleep you are drunk on the road . . . One IATSE member credits pandemic with allowing IATSE Crew to realize they deserve better . . . when you hear their stories it’s eye-opening, it’s tear-jerking . . . “

“In 2006, the famed cinematographer Haskell Wexler (he won an academy award for his work on Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) released a documentary titled Who Needs Sleep? It's a look at the back-to-back days and long hours that crew members put in on a film set, what sleep deprivation and exhaustion do to a person, and how those things can lead to people dying on the drive home from work . . . ‘Right now, until something comes up from the state legislature, or better yet on a federal level, we're not able to deal with the long hours,’ Wade says . . .”

“The burdens that union members point to include long workdays that may lack breaks or lunch, and the debilitating fatigue that causes both on and off the job. A 1997 tragedy remains vivid: Brent Hershman, 35, an assistant cameraman on the film "Pleasantville," died in a crash while driving home after a 19-hour workday . . .”

“ Hutchins’ death, along with other grievances suffered by crew members, seems to be part of a larger problem: The drive for maximum profit by production companies is putting the lives of workers in peril . . . .

Yet, rarely are we treated to any revealing coverage on the less than stellar working conditions of crew members. That’s because the powers that be in Hollywood, masters at public relations that they are, have done a thorough job of pushing a narrative that Hollywood is beyond the “normal” workplace. As if movie magic can’t be bothered with real world problems like livable wages, the health of its workers, or combatting sexual harassment (as the #MeToo movement brought to light).

Hollywood is not beyond those issues. False narrative fairytales such as these need to be left to the big screen. The death of Hutchins was avoidable . . . “

“I believe it’s the responsibility of union leadership to bridge that gap. I am excited to organize with all the activated workers within the union to understand what their demands are…”

“We woke up to the fact it’s not really a badge of honor working seven days a week, 15-hour days,” said an editor and Local 700 member . . . The pandemic production pause gave workers a chance to reflect on their relationship to their jobs, a sentiment that helped attract some 167,000 followers to the IATSE Stories Instagram page where crafts workers share what might have previously been seen as war stories — the long days and unreasonable demands by producers that can lead to exhaustion, injury, or even death . . .”

“For years we’ve normalized and internalized all these abusive situations . . .”

ture Industry culture and ask for scutiny into crew safety conditions and exhaustion on sets . . .”

“Incremental change has brought us to where we are today, and it’s just not enough,” Desmond O’Regan — a propmaker and one of the organizers of Thursday’s rally … We have a lot of safety issues that are exacerbated by long hours . . . “

“For years, I've been saying there's got to be a better way to make movies, and everybody's attitude is, "Well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it," but it is broke. It's very broken, as a matter of fact . . . Everyone, regardless of department, is overworked. We all work crazy hours for weeks and sometimes months at a time . . .”

“The motion picture industry continually demonstrates willful neglect and disregard of human life for the sake of higher profit margins…”

“Incremental change {in the Industry} has brought us to where we are today, and it’s just not enough …”

“Shorter workdays was a key issue three years ago as well, when IATSE negotiated its current film and TV contract. Incremental gains were made then too . . .”