Safety standards developed by film studios and entertainment industry labor unions are what’s protecting movie sets from potentially deadly accidents, like Alec Baldwin’s shooting …
Safety standards developed by film studios and entertainment industry labor unions are what’s protecting movie sets from potentially deadly accidents, like Alec Baldwin’s shooting on the set of ” Rust.” Although the industry standard across the board seems to be to treat weapons — even those loaded with blanks — as lethal, shootings and deaths have nevertheless happened, the most recent being the death of Halyna Hutchins. She was killed when a gun held by Baldwin discharged on the set of “Rust” and struck her in the chest and wounded director Joel Souza. An investigation into the incident is ongoing, and authorities are primarily focused on how live ammunition not only made its way to the set but into the gun at all. Still, despite some industry reforms following previous tragedies, the federal workplace safety agency in the U.S. is silent on the issue of on-set gun safety. And some of the preferred states for film and TV production take a largely hands-off approach in favor of letting the industry regulate itself. Georgia and Louisiana, where the film industry has expanded rapidly, regulate pyrotechnics on movie sets but have no specific rules around gun use. In Louisiana, the film industry was credited with creating more than 9.600 jobs last year and generating nearly $800 million for local businesses. “We don’t have anything to do with firearms. We only regulate the special effects explosion-type stuff,” Capt. Nick Manale, a state police spokesperson in Louisiana told The Associated Press. “I’m not sure who does that or if anybody does.” New Mexico has no specific safety laws for the film industry. Much of the legislative debate over the industry, as in other states, has focused on tax credits and incentives to lure the lucrative entertainment business, not what happens on sets. In addition to attracting some large film productions, the state is home to major production hubs for Netflix and NBCUniversal. It had a record $623 million in direct spending on productions between July 2020 through June of this year. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat and an ardent film industry supporter, touted the industry’s pandemic precautions over the summer, saying it had put safety first and cleared the way for work to resume.
