Dwayne Johnson says that after Alec Baldwin’s fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, his production company “will not use real guns ever again” on its TV and film sets. pic.twitter.com/3EBQNjY8fw
— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) November 4, 2021
Here’s hoping, per Variety:
… Seven Bucks Productions, founded by Johnson and his longtime business partner Dany Garcia, is behind some of the most lucrative films in recent years, from “Jumanji” to “Jungle Cruise,” to “Hobbs and Shaw” and the upcoming “Black Adam.” Johnson is not just one of the most famous people in the world, but also one of the most respected and beloved figures in the business, who carries a lot of weight and brings mega-bucks to the box office. In other words, Johnson’s endorsement to end the use of real firearms can kick-off a domino effect of safe decision-making across Hollywood productions…
Rust numbers, per a new story from Yahoo Entertainment:
Producers on Rust, including Alec Baldwin, have come under fire over reports of chaotic working conditions in the wake of Halyna Hutchins’s death. The Hollywood Reporter obtained a draft of the production budget which sheds light on where money was allocated on the independent Western movie.
Baldwin was set to earn $150,000 as lead actor and $100,000 as producer, according to the new report. Hutchins, an up-and-coming cinematographer, would have earned $48,945, while armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, one of two people at the center of the investigation, was set to be paid $7,913. Producers budgeted $7,469 for “armorer crew,” $17,500 for the rental of weapons and $5,000 for rounds. Dave Halls, first assistant director who handed the prop gun to Baldwin, was to earn $52,830. While the draft confirms the low-budget nature of the film, which was slated to cost $7,279,305, experts tell THR the numbers are not unusual…
Smart, scary thread from someone who’s been in the business all her life:
A small story:
One of the most dangerous sayings among artists is “Jump and the net will appear.” The idea that if you risk the universe will automatically protect you from the worst possible consequences is very seductive and is not actually true. https://t.co/Yawp3OjWOL
— Quinn Cummings (@quinncy) October 27, 2021
… When you produce an indie, money is gathered slowly, painfully; I’d say you chip away at the amount you need like a sculptor working some marble, but imagine if while the sculptor delineated a leg, a bunch of marble sometimes grew back. Money gets promised, not always delivered.
At some point, you have to start moving forward as if the project is going to go, at least in part to get people you want to work with to block out the time you’ll need them on your schedule. Every day, you get closer to shooting. Every day, money waffles.
Making a movie outside of a studio system is objectively terrifying.
(Making a movie within the system is no pastoral idyll either, but that’s another Small Story)
Everything is on the line. Sometimes, literally; I personally know people who mortgaged houses to make a movie.
Not all of them kept their house.