G&E Liability on Student Films and Low Budgets

sheeep

sheeep

Active member
I hope this is an alright to have this discussion, if not mods please move it to whichever section is more applicable.

Last year there was the terrible incident of a kid from NYU getting killed operating a condor. There was a short article on the whole thing in some local NY freebie newspaper, and the gaffer that was hired for the shoot was being sued for about four times his worth, from the parents, the school, etc.

He had no formal training as an electrician, and got the job off craigslist.

I'll admit that I have no formal training either, and I think it's not a stretch to say that most members of G&E crews working on sub-million budgets don't either. That's not to say people aren't safe because they don't have certification or electrical education.

I think both departments have, to some extent, responsibilities that include the safety of others. Rigging a light so it doesn't fall is a responsibility, safe power distros as well. But there's no legal backup, no army of union lawyers to protect us on smaller shoots. The insurance covers the equipment, not us.

I don't want to sound paranoid about lawsuits, but I think there is a fine line that could be discussed here. Does anyone take any preventative measures on shows, some sort of paper agreement between production put in deal memos?
 
Isn't the UPM responsible for set safety?

BTW, thanks for posting that article.
 
If there is a UPM he or she might be responsible, but the great majority of the time those positions don't exist.
 
It is ultimately the producer's responsibility for everything that happens during the making of a film. However, is someone is hurt or, God forbid, killed, then EVERYBODY is going to be held responsible and sued.

It is not much discussed but anyone who engages in low budget/guerrilla filmmaking needs to understand that besides the possibility of loosing all of the money they spend on their films, they also risk loosing almost EVERYTHING they own if things go wrong and significant property damage is sustained, or people are hurt/killed during filming. I am not a lawyer, but you should set up your filmmaking activities under a liability limiting business structure, and if possible making sure that your are insured. If you can not afford insurance then you have to realize what you are risking and do everything you can to be a safe as possible when shooting. If this is what you really, really have to do, then sometimes you might just have to Man Up, swallow hard and take the risk. Welcome to low budget filmmaking.
 
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