Why you should always hire professionals.

"The suit said that Brown, whose website notes that he has worked booms at concerts by the likes of ZZ Top and Randy Travis, responded to an online advertisement seeking a camera operator to work for $50 a day plus meals."


"Fagerberg's lawyer, Jim Clements, said that Fagerberg is seeking damages, including some for medical bills and loss of earnings, that likely could reach millions of dollars."


Yep. Sometimes you can get away with a guy you pay $50/day to and sometimes this happens. I guess he can go back to being a PA now.
 
Horrible accident for those affected. Seriously, this shonky practice of paying pennys is entirely to blame.
 
If you ever hit someone over the head with a jib... make sure it's not a lawyer. Yowza. Sad for everyone. Including that poor cameraman, who probably was taking a $50/day job for a reason. He's got a big lawsuit on his hands, if he probably didn't feel guilty enough for injuring all those people.
 
This story should be a cautionary tale for all those indys who delude themselves with "I can't afford liability insurance so I'm going to just take my chances. It's all just a scam by the insurance companies anyway."
 
There was that thread last week 'why does anyone still shoot video' that kept me up for a week. Then Barry Green's post on that thread had me leave town on a break to implement some major changes to my style of work, and now this. Yeah. I'm not compromising anymore. This is way serious. My sincerest to all those badly affected by this carelessness. It's time we take some responsibility (by we I mean me and the ppl I work with) and figure out another way to make money so as not to compromise anything on a shoot. and at SXSW to boot. wow.
 
greymog said:
There was that thread last week 'why does anyone still shoot video' that kept me up for a week. Then Barry Green's post on that thread had me leave town on a break to implement some major changes to my style of work, and now this. Yeah. I'm not compromising anymore. This is way serious. My sincerest to all those badly affected by this carelessness. It's time we take some responsibility (by we I mean me and the ppl I work with) and figure out another way to make money so as not to compromise anything on a shoot. and at SXSW to boot. wow.
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Amen to that ... either do it right or don't do it at all. If one can't figure out how to make money without cutting corners, espcailly in regard to safety issues and one's ethical responsibilities, perhaps one doesn't deserve to be making any money.
 
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Steve House said:
This story should be a cautionary tale for all those indys who delude themselves with "I can't afford liability insurance so I'm going to just take my chances. It's all just a scam by the insurance companies anyway."
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Exactly.
This story was the talk of the town when it happened here - I'd heard grumblings of the company in charge having hired their crew off craigslist for ridiculously low rates, I guess I never realized how ridiculously low they were. I can't find the original pictures now, but when this happened there were pics of the setup posted on the local paper's site. It would have been clear to anyone here that it was an accident waiting to happen. The sticks were setup on uneven ground, they were WAY too lightweight to hold the jib that was mounted on them, and in none of the pictures did I see even one sandbag to weight down the sticks. Eventually, the entire rig fell over, unfortunately.

I'm actually less surprised that this happened, and more surprised that it took this long to happen. As SXSW has grown over the decades there are more and more shoots all the time - and producers get desperate to find people. It's the one time of year here in Austin where if you have any experience with a camera whatsoever you're pretty much guaranteed to find some kind of work.

I agree, these situations are terrifying. What surprised me on this one was that it had actually never occurred to me that if you were hired as a freelancer you could be personally liable, as oppossed to the company who hired you being primarily liable for any accident. I've had insurance on my equipment since I started working - but I never carried general liability insurance (I only got short term policies when jobs required them). As soon as this accident happened I realized how risky and stupid that is.
I got a liability policy just a few weeks after SXSW this year.

Definitely work with professionals, and make sure you're covered.
Just not worth it any other way.
 
You know at the end of the day Steve Madden Company is the one on the hook for this. They are at the top of the food chain here and are ultimately responsible for allowing this unprofessional work to be handled in their name. I suppose you could say the production company and the operator are responsible, and they are, but Madden should insist that only seasoned, insured pros are hired. Sorry for $50 a day you shouldn't be allowed to even ask the contractor for proof of insurance.

I am not sure how long the operator was on the job but I am sure it came out to less than minimum wage. It is time to stand up and demand that these huge corporations stop asking people to work for poverty wages. Unfortunately, this time people got hurt and if this continues more people can and will be hurt or killed.
 
PM me about my "SXSW is a tent show" rant sometime. The crux is the difference between a production community and a production industry.
 
As the owner of a 12ft jib, I would never operate it with people below. And certainly not the general public. What were they thinking...

In my prior life, I was often involved in rigging and lifting big heavy stuff measured in the 20-40 ton range. There are both federal and state laws regarding the operation of equipment involved with lifting and with people in the vicinities. In this case, if the equipment was not approved for such use, the whole bunch of them will be baked in court. Things like this can be classed as accidents, equipment failures, negligence, and gross negligence. In the case of gross negligence, criminal charges can be filed and jail time often ensues.

Grant
 
I really hope that Steve Madden and OnSlot get bitten for this. People have to start taking some responsibility. Steve Madden is a fashion company so they definitely know about slave labor so i wouldn't be surprised if everyone was trying to stiff anyone else Steve Madden paying radicilously low rates to OnSlot and OnSlot in return taking the huge chink of the fee and hiring people for slave wage.

Now if Steve Madden did spend serious $$ on this production they should insist that OnSlot hires qualified people - if you think that just becaue you are paying through the roof means you will get pros - you clearly haven't seen the thieves that plague this business.
 
ggrantly said:
As the owner of a 12ft jib, I would never operate it with people below. And certainly not the general public. What were they thinking...
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I disagree with this statement. I have worked with jibs & jibs op's from 12' to 40' long. They are safe in the hands of a professional who takes care of their gear. We have build and flown them over crowds for Aerosmith, Brittany Spears and many others, flying heavy cameras over the heads of thousands and thousands of people. When constructed correctly, they move effortlessly and are solid like a rock. It never crosses our mind because we know what we're doing.

Who would bring out their gear and work for $50/day is unbelievable. This should be a valuable lesson to production companies for the type of talent you'll attract for these rates and the corners they must cut to make this happen.
 
Tim Kay said:
I disagree with this statement. I have worked with jibs & jibs op's from 12' to 40' long. They are safe in the hands of a professional who takes care of their gear. We have build and flown them over crowds for Aerosmith, Brittany Spears and many others, flying heavy cameras over the heads of thousands and thousands of people. When constructed correctly, they move effortlessly and are solid like a rock. It never crosses our mind because we know what we're doing.

Who would bring out their gear and work for $50/day is unbelievable. This should be a valuable lesson to production companies for the type of talent you'll attract for these rates and the corners they must cut to make this happen.
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100% correct. When built right and operated by professionals who understand the limits of their equipment flying a camera over a crowd is very safe. These guys who have budget jibs and work for $50 a day are just like the nube grips who show up at a job in flip flops, a danger to themselves and others.

Learn your gear, obey all safety rules, get insurance, and for Christ's sake wear the proper foot wear so I don't have to send you home.
 
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