CMU School of Drama


Friday, April 26, 2024

IATSE & OSHA Launch Investigations Into Accident On The Pickup Set

deadline.com: Multiple investigations are taking place into the accident on the Atlanta set of Amazon MGM Studios‘ heist pic The Pickup over the weekend, which left several crew members injured.

4 comments:

Abby Brunner said...

This is clearly still a developing story about what happened on the set of The Pickup. It’s alarming to hear that so recently after the accident on the Rust set, there is yet another accident resulting in injured crew members. I can only imagine that this show has a lot of car chases or action-packed scenes, especially with Eddie Murphy playing one of the leading roles. I’m aghast that something tragic has occurred again on a television set. Wanting to know more about what happened, I googled the accident. The New York Times has an article that features the video of the accident happening. It looks like during the filming of a high-speed chase, something went amiss with the choreography of vehicles, causing the armored truck to flip over and throw crew members out of the back of the truck. I can only hope that the crew members involved are okay. And it gives me solace to know that IATSE and OSHA are looking into the accident. I hope that this investigation will lead to tighter regulations or new regulations that crews will have the capacity to follow so that accidents like this become unheard of on sets rather than common.

Carolyn Burback said...

It’s always sad to see new brakes of people who die in the entertainment industry because on the surface it is not an industry that should ever lead to deaths; this isn’t an industry that saves lives/resolves real world problems as much of the work produced by western entertainment media is luxury viewing performances and content. Seeing people get into severe accidents or deaths as a result of an art form that has no reason to be instigating such situations is disheartening. The vehicle crash on the set of “The Pickup” is upsetting to read about and having to see OSHA and IATSE be investigated over a simulated accident that turned real is frustrating because these accidents are often a result of negligence or cutting corners due to money or time. I wonder if IATSE will actually suffer any consequences because this feels like a situation that will be swept under the rug.

Jasper Gitlitz said...

Safety on sets has always been an important part of our industry but especially after the major incident that occurred on the site of Rust, safety has to be taken incredibly seriously. This story does not have all the details and it sounds like many things about what happened in this case are still unknown but it’s good that IATSE and OSHA are both on top of the incident and working to figure out what happened. While it doesn’t sound like there have been any deaths, this incident seems to have been big enough to involve a significant number of people. Safety procedures are so important in the workplace and I will be interested to find out what caused this incident and if it was because any safety procedures were not carried out properly. I hope that these kinds of incidents happen less as time goes on and that we learn from cases like this one.

Ellie Yonchak said...

I’m disappointed AND surprised at this incident. I usually wouldn’t be surprised, but I am surprised that this happened so close after the whole ‘Rust’ debacle. However, I suppose that the accident actually happened a few years ago. It’s just stayed in the headlines for so long that it feels much more recent. You’d think that it would stay in the industrial memory for longer than that in any case. I understand the need to do things quickly and efficiently, but part of efficiency, in my definition at least, is ending the production process with minimal injuries, or god forbid, casualties. I am heartened, at least, that both IATSE and OSHA are on the case, and I just hope that it turns out to be nothing more than some act of god. Safety will always be cheaper than the cost of harming someone.