Acting : Safety On Set by Paul Barry

This was a great read, Paul, and thank you for contributing. You brought up the tragedy of Sarah Jones and I wanted to share a great article and tremendous outpouring of support from our community about safety on set: https://www.stage32.com/blog/Tragedy-on-the-Set-Remembering-Sarah-Jones

Thanks Julie. It's important for us to know how much support and demand there is for safety, but to express it in advance, as well as post-tragedy. Cheers.

Very cool. Thanks Paul!

very nice love it

This article got me thinking. We don't usually put ourselves in Unsafe/Insecure environments consciously. In the excitement of filming "fiction", possibly on turf we don't know we need to remember "dangers" are still "real."

You're absolutely right Debbie. I think this is one of the issues, because if we were to admit we were in an unsafe environment then we'd feel we are responsible for getting ourselves into it. This however is not true, and it keeps actors from speaking up when they can do it politely and avoid potentially life-threatening situations.

Article written from a very alarmist stance. Extreme examples cited. Crews don't put actors in danger, actors and "above the line" people: producers; directors; UPM's, AD's, put them in danger. I don't know how many times on set that I've heard the cast told, "Stay away from..." or "Clear the set so the crew can work..." and they don't listen. Though you'd help by moving that light? Just don't... This is a good place to sit down and check your messages? No, that's what holding is for, not here because I'm looking out for my safety and the safety of the rest of the crew. Unsafe location? Were permits acquired? As an actor (or crew) you can make inquires beyond the UPM and seek the truth.

Thanks for your comment JD. I've re-read my words to see where I may have miscommunicated, and I'm confident that the point of my article is not that "crews put actors in danger" (there are multiple mentions to crews and cast being put in potentially threatening situations by others specifically mentioned in the article). In fact it sounds like we agree, though I don't understand the 'alarmist' part, especially since it's speaking specifically about the death of a crew member, and the police pointing guns at my client. Not sure where you live, but that's pretty alarming in my neighbourhood... The point is that arrogance, laziness, unreasonable expectations put on shooting speed, poor communication and planning, fatigue, and an incredibly dangerous 'what's the worst that could happen?' mentality all combine to raise the potential for harmful and tragic 'accidents' to occur. If these aren't factors on sets you work on then the danger is limited - and yes, actors can do a lot more to help, I agree. If anyone can say that they've only worked on 100% safe sets and locations though, I'd be gobsmacked. Either they're oblivious to what's going on in other departments (perhaps like the actors in your example), or they haven't worked very much. I concur that many crew members (and actors, btw) regularly make comments about 'make safe', 'walk slowly', 'be careful' etc., but it's not those participants or attitudes on a set that are of concern. The issue here is that proper precautions are not always taken (but shortcuts and last-minute changes often are), and this should be of concern to all of us. More important, due to the fact that all sets aren't safe, actors and crew members need to learn a language (and the confidence) to communicate when they feel unsure, or straight-out unsafe. This is taken very seriously in the stunt and armory world of film and TV, but sadly it is often overlooked for actors, boom swingers, camera assistants and so on, who also face potentially dangerous situations at work. Like on a live train track... As one of my stunt buddies says, "There's no such things as an 'easy' stunt". Equally, there's no such thing as "it'll be fine". There are too many rogue factors, even before pride, ego, arrogance, laziness, corner-cutting, and just dumb random bad luck enter the mix. In the end though, it sounds like you have a strong concern for on-set safety too which is great, so perhaps you'd agree that the discussion and education needs to be more widespread, especially given the time-poor, high-pressure environment of film and TV production. Cheers, =pb=

The mental hospital with hundreds of rusty nails....seemed a little over the top.

Ah, I see. But no. No exaggeration.

One could almost wrap the issue of safety up with a single statement, "Low budget productions run by individual with little experience and even less money and Producers, Directors, UPM's who will do and say anything to get the shot, put actors and crew in danger". Most crew and actors are way to trusting and naive for their own good.