Hey I'm a local IATSE member in LA, I'm not a grip but I'm an electrician in 728. The local 80 grips and 728 electricians work ridiculously close together.
I never met Rico Priem but I did know Spike who fell to his death from completely neglected 100-year-old wooden catwalks back in February. For a goddamn Marvel show.
I just got back from a candlelit vigil and walk for our fallen union kin. A lot of people mentioned both of those men as well as Halyna Hutchins, the director of photography who died on Rust.
Before Rust, the most recent preventable death in the industry was Sarah Jones, a young camera assistant who was killed when her production failed to secure the correct permits to film on train tracks.
The vigil pretty much became a live version of the Instagram, ia_stories. (Where people anonymously post their onset horror stories)
I wanted to mention it to my fellow crew members but didn't get a chance, but the amount of television fans that supported us during the strikes and were even enraged when Rico died meant the absolute world to us. I found out about Rico's death from a Facebook post of one of his friends, it didn't go into detail. I googled it and one of the first links was your blog and after learning more I posted my own post out of absolute disgust and anger.
We're literally dying to entertain you and the support does not go unnoticed. So thank you.
I've honestly spent the last couple of days wondering how to answer such a heartfelt and heavy message. I want to give you and all your union members the respect they're due and I don't know what to say. I'm really grateful that you guys can see that we care. I think it's the least we can do. You are, as you said, dying for our entertainment and that's not okay. That's never okay. The industry needs to do a lot better. I'm glad I could help in some way. And I hope you know how much hearing this meant to me to know I'm succeeding in that a bit.
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