| Crew List

Anyone have more on this?

Robin Williams always required film companies to hire homeless people in order to book him - Stephen Spielberg found Williams useful in other ways - His passing made Koko sign "Cry"

Steven Spielberg's "The Exorcist" (1973) - When Visual Effects were done "practical"!

Thanks Sam 😎

Courtesy of Roy H. Wagner ASC

This 8th anniversary of my daughter Sarah’s death brings with it yet another tragic death in the film industry. On October 21st of this past year, cinematographer Halyna Hutchens was fatally wounded in a shooting incident while working on the film ‘Rust’. Another senseless death brought on by negligent actions and a disregard for safety precautions.

This does not need to happen again. The film industry, thru the non-profit Contract Services, has developed many of the guidelines necessary for productions to manage a set safely through what is known as the Safety Bulletins.

If Safety Bulletin #1, “Recommendations for Safety with Firearms And Use of "Blank Ammunition", had been attached to the call sheet, discussed in safety meetings, and followed, Halyna Hutchins would likely still be alive.

If Safety Bulletin #28, “Guidelines for Railroad Safety”, had been attached to the call sheet, discussed in safety meetings, and followed, my daughter – Sarah Jones -- would still be alive.

What’s missing is enforcement. And consequences.

If safety protocols are ignored, there should be consequences so that the violator does not move on to yet another production only to put other crew members’ safety in jeopardy.

Those who are known to have ignored or willfully violated safety protocols perhaps should not be given the honor of being a member of their prospective Guilds. I’m sure there are additional appropriate consequences that can be implemented.

Crew members are dying and/or being horribly injured time after time. Tragedy is always just one bad decision away. When producers try to save money, they often hire unqualified crew in positions of authority who can affect set safety. With time and budget constraints, safety issues can be overlooked or even ignored.

To avert an on-set accident, crew members must sometimes stand up to a producer, demand change and explain to them why the decisions made by the production company will put their crew in grave danger.

Because of Sarah’s death, more crew members have felt secure enough to speak up, but as we have seen, much more needs to be done.

Above-the-line producers are hiring the production managers and UPMs, who, in turn, hire the 1st AD, Key Grip, Prop Master, Armorer and other critical department heads. Those department heads are expected to adhere to the established best practices and safety guidelines.

But what are the consequences if they do not? OSHA fines? Those are surprisingly low.

I challenge the Guilds, studios, networks, film and TV production companies to make safety the number one priority.

I propose that like-minded individuals join together in establishing a Safety Coalition to help the industry come up with a solution – a better way forward.

The Film and Television business comprises a remarkable group of crafts and skilled persons who can create the impossible. It’s now time for them to help create the possible.

Together, we can help ensure that no other family will be destroyed because of someone’s lack of care and/or disregard for set safety. Having consequences will help with the enforcement of the Safety Bulletins.

Richard Jones
Father of Sarah Jones

#SafetyForSarah

How Old Films Are Professionally Restored

From Movies Insider: https://www.facebook.com/watch/1565713960405733/1009671536046358/
Early films can be destroyed forever if not preserved. See how movies get repaired, reconstructed, and converted to digital form to avoid this fate.
For more from The George Eastman Museum:
https://www.eastman.org/moving-image
https://www.youtube.com/c/GeorgeEastmanMuseum
https://www.instagram.com/eastmanmuseum/

https://fb.watch/bg_YqfV8KB/

I found this TED Talk fascinating... Hope you do too~
The shared wonder of film
Speaker: Beeban Kidron
Movies have the power to create a shared narrative experience and to shape memories and worldviews. British film director Beeban Kidron invokes iconic film scenes -- from Miracle in Milan to Boyz n the Hood -- as she shows how her group FILMCLUB shares great films with kids.

We just wanted to announce here a new feature where you may create a mini-album of photos in a post with unlimited images!

Please try to keep your images within one subject matter and describe that in your post.

For example here are some images that represent various Crew Photos that have been submitted over the years.

How many do you recognize?

Around the world, in the Entertainment Industry, there is one name that is more famous than any other, and it's very likely a name that most regular people have never heard of. Only if you make your living on a set have you heard, "This is the Abby Singer!". Crew members become more alert, there is a pep to their step, the signal has been given!
The "Abby Singer" is the shot before the last shot of the day, which is called "The Martini", because the next shot would be in your glass at home. Abby Singer, an Assistant Director and Production Manager famously coined the saying, "This and one more", for the shooting day's end, and so that shot became known as "The Abby Singer". I have spoken to people in many countries far and wide and they all use this terminology even if some have no idea why.
Abby Singer was so well loved and respected, that a plaque was put up at the Sunset Gower Studios in Hollywood dedicating a building to his career. It reads:
"THIS SHOT..."
Abby Singer began his entertainment career on this studio lot in 1946 for Columbia Pictures. For the next eleven years, he advanced to the position of assistant director working in both feature films and television productions. Abby became legendary by creating one of the most famous lines uttered by film makers around the world, "This shot and one more." It quickly became known as "the Abby Singer", signaling to crew and management that the end of the work day was near.
Celebrating more than sixty years as an assistant director, production manager, executive in charge of production, producer, instructor at the American Film Institute, and many years of distinguished service to the Directors Guild of America, we respectfully dedicate this building in his honor.
Today as in days past, scores have said:
"WE'RE ON THE ABBY SINGER"
Robert Papazian
CEO, Sunset Gower Studios
May 17, 2007
Abby Singer passed away in 2014, but his legacy lives on!
ABBY, WE SALUTE YOU! You became a legend in your own time!
Abner "Abby" Singer  honorarium in perpetuum

Perhaps a bit off the mark with respect to their most recognizable credits, this tribute to those passing in 2021 is far more comprehensive than the popular Awards Shows take the time for:

RIP, Betty!

Here's some fun Behind the Scenes and Bloopers from Director, Jon Watts' "Spiderman: No Way Home"

Good Times.....

For those who are also big DRAGNET fans, here is a picture from the Police Station set. Left to right: Tom Mankiewicz, Writer/Director; Tom Hanks; David Sosna, First AD, (With his back to camera); ME! Vicki Rhodes, 2nd AD (Obviously NOT having a good time!) and Chevy Chase, who had stopped by to see Dan Aykroyd but was talking to us because David and I had just worked with him on THREE AMIGOS!

This has been circulating around the internet of late. What a "Wonderful" Photo!

This is the Wrap Picnic for "It’s a Wonderful Life".

The camera was on a tripod about 10’ high. The photographer climbed a ladder and turned a handle. It was the first Widelux. Frank Capra and Jimmy Stewart are on the left side. Once the lens was past them, they ran around behind to the right side, so they’re on both sides of the photograph. "It's a Wonderful Life" premiered in New York on 20 December 1946, 75 years ago.

Tap the image and see how many you can recognize!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038650/

I must agree!

Has this been your experience?

To what do you attribute this phenomenon?

Here's Why Movie Dialogue Has Gotten More Difficult To Understand (And Three Ways To Fix It)

Read More: https://www.slashfilm.com/673162/heres-why-movie-dialogue-has-gotten-mo…?

I love this piece from the Cinema Shorthand Society:

On this date in 1981, "Ragtime" was released.
Jack Nicholson had to drop out of the film less than a month before filming began, leaving the producers without a name star. Director Milos Forman recruited James Cagney, who he had met the year before at a private dinner in Connecticut. He offered Cagney any part he wanted, including (facetiously) Evelyn Nesbitt.

According to Forman, Cagney initially agreed to play New York City Police Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo on two conditions: he would not sign a contract of any kind, and he reserved the right to change his mind and quit the film until three days before shooting began on his scenes.

Cagney had been advised by his doctors and caregivers that making a film at this point in his life was very important for his health. The actor never flew, so he and his wife took an ocean liner to London, where his scenes were filmed. Despite his numerous infirmities, he stayed on set during his fellow actors' close ups to give them line readings. Because of the presence of the ailing Cagney, in what became his final big screen appearance, the movie was officially exempted from the long-running actors' strike of the early 1980s. It was the only production to receive that honor.

Cagney used a wheelchair at the time of shooting. Most scenes show him sitting. A stand-in was used for scenes showing him on his feet, shot from the back to obscure the stand-in's face.

Cagney was 81 when he filmed this movie. His character, Commissioner Rhinelander Waldo, was 32 at the time in which the movie was set.
This film reunited Cagney with Pat O'Brien (photo below), his frequent co-star from the 1930s and 1940s. It was the last theatrical film for both of them. In addition, Forman hired Donald O'Connor at the request of Cagney. O'Connor had been having personal and professional problems, and Cagney wanted to help him.(IMDb)

Is Alec Baldwin Going to Jail for the Death of Halyna Hutchins?

Here is some speculative legal opinions regarding the "Rust" shooting by a legal expert.
Note that he clarifies from the start that this is not based upon the ongoing investigation!

How ‘No Time To Die’ Pulled Off James Bond’s Opening Chase | Movies Insider.

Necessity is the mother of invention. This really shows the inventiveness of the makers of film.