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    clickSuckaGabrielle Bluestone
    1/25/16 6:56pm

    There is something seriously wrong with a system that pays a person $25,000,000.00+ and gets additional perks, points, etc while other people putting in time to help this endeavor have to defecate in their cars during a 12+ hour shift for a measly $150...

    I assume many of the production assistants that stay in the business, turn around and become even more sadistic with their underlings...

    This is like fraternity hazing, only even less fun because you have a greater chance of living through the experience and have time to reflect on the humiliation you just endured.

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      ThatFatScatCatclickSucka
      1/25/16 7:28pm

      I’d like to think that the once lowly PAs would show more empathy to their staff upon making it big, given their past experiences.

      Dunno why, but I’m reminded of this:

      http://www.erickimberlinbowley.com/post/159974284…

      I’ve always found it to be really moving.

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      AshisyouclickSucka
      1/25/16 8:00pm

      Welcome to america.

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    TheEvilAttorneyGabrielle Bluestone
    1/25/16 6:49pm

    I thought that defecating into buckets is the way all Michael Bay films are made.

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      OMG!PONIES!TheEvilAttorney
      1/25/16 6:55pm

      Please do not denigrate buckets or shit by associating them with Michael Bay movies.

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      Cam/ronTheEvilAttorney
      1/25/16 7:07pm
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    raincoasterGabrielle Bluestone
    1/25/16 8:34pm

    Wait, are PAs not unionized? I’ve run across film shoots all over Vancouver, and they always seem to have a ton of potty trailers around.

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      neuroticcityraincoaster
      1/25/16 10:08pm

      No, they’re “permittees”, still paying the Union for the privelege, but getting none of the benefits until becoming full members (if they survive). Those “honey wagons” are for the crew in general. If those wagons are present, PAs can use them too, but if the PAs are prepping the location before the rest of the crew arrives, cleaning up after, or merely keeping an eye on the location with or without crew around... If the rest of the crew’s not around, neither is the honey wagon, or it’s locked up until the full Union bladders arrive later.

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      BurnThemAll, Noted CrankyPantsraincoaster
      1/25/16 10:39pm

      The shitty truth (yeah, I went there) is that sometimes, in order to land a nice contract, the union will sell out its members by agreeing to bad working conditions. Or so it was in the late 90s; can’t say for sure if that’s still happening. But as long as the Almighty Dolla’ Dolla’ rules Hollywood, I’m guessing maybe yes.

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    puncha yo bunsGabrielle Bluestone
    1/25/16 6:45pm

    The class-action suit was filed this week by four New York-based production assistants, who say they had to take desperate measures while working on films like “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,”... and “Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon.”

    Truly, this sounds like horrible enough punishment in and of itself. I would award them whatever they’re asking just for having their names/careers attached to such abominations. Michael Bay strikes again.

    You did good, kids. Karma’s throwing you an Iñárritu picture somewhere in the near future.

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      millie lammoreauxpuncha yo buns
      1/25/16 7:08pm

      Actually, their karma for suing a production company is that they’ll never get work on a Hollywood shoot ever again. Ever.

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      Hank Kingsley's Newsletterpuncha yo buns
      1/25/16 7:16pm

      You left out the Scorsese movie of your selective quoting.

      But then you wouldn’t have been able to make your hilarious joke.

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    Cam/ronGabrielle Bluestone
    1/25/16 6:42pm

    But Bay had a Vision:

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      diamond-walled-pandemoniumCam/ron
      1/25/16 6:49pm

      Yes, some variation of a gold-plated turd tied up with dynamite.

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      KaidogCam/ron
      1/25/16 7:03pm

      Look, soulless twins!

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    ham6450Gabrielle Bluestone
    1/25/16 7:25pm

    All of this shit is standard STANDARD across all production environments. Never work in this industry.

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      PitzerGrimmaceham6450
      1/25/16 9:56pm

      This is not standard. I can tell you that litigation and the threat of being sued has mad this kind of thing an anomaly. Versions of this, or stories, of course happen. but standard is the wrong word to use.

      I wont deny that working conditions and pay for the PA’s and other assistants is small and they are way undervalued. However, this idea that across the board PA’s are shitting in their car is a bot hard to fathom. The idea that they were not allowed to eat is hard to wrap my head around. If this is the case, it would mean that a crew of well over 200 people, all were absolute pieces of shit and treated these people like slaves. Now on a Michael bay film can i buy that 50 percent were dickheads, yes. However, i have yet to meet an entire department of teamsters or grips or electric that would allow others to be treated by the studio in this manner. I am not saying it didnt happen, but my experience in this and having worked on some really shitty and unsafe productions, there are more than a few people who would have never allowed this to happen. PA’S are the most vulnerable, and they are given a ton of shit and expected to shut up and complain. Not seeing them in a chair, on a ledge at lunch, just happy to be off their feet for a brief half hour is rare. People in this business are rarely monsters and rarely is everyone on a crew list the worst person in the world, which you would need to be for this to happen.

      But yes, working your way up from the lowly PA position pinto something else is not recommended. You put everything in your life on hold, for the chance that at some point you will be able to do what you love, and be able to make s living for yourself. Its shit work, it comes with having to bite your tongue and not only swallow remove “pride” from your vocabulary. I have done this, and finally i see some movement. It is a tough road that I was built for and had the desire to endure some shitty behavior (more so as a person of color)

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      ham6450PitzerGrimmace
      1/25/16 11:07pm

      I know you know 60 to 100 hours no overtime is standard. Staying on location is standard. $150 flat day rate is actually medium-high on the pay-rate scale.

      As for the urinating in vehicles. I was once on a shoot in Manhattan as a PA and, 5 minutes after call, I was told to meet the gaffer and help him park. He told me he didn’t have commercial plates for his van so I was going to have to sit in the driver’s seat in case the cops came. I only saw the gaffer one more time for that whole 12 hour day. I only ate because one of the other PA’s had mercy one me and brought me a sandwich she pilfered from the crafty table. I just held out for the bathroom because for christ’s sake! I would argue that most former PA’s have a story like this.

      Point is, I think that the forced to stay in the vehicles situation is relevant to the shoot constraints. However, it all falls in to the same realm of mistreatment that the vast majority of PA’s have to deal with.

      I agree that teamsters and grips wouldn’t allow this to happen... to them and their crew. When it comes to PA’s or anyone associated with the producing segment, there’s a healthy dose of ambivalence there.

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    OMG!PONIES!Gabrielle Bluestone
    1/25/16 6:53pm

    Even worse, the PAs were told that they wouldn't be paid until they posted favorable user reviews of 13 Hours on Rotten Tomatoes.

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      dothedewGabrielle Bluestone
      1/25/16 7:06pm

      If working on Hollywood films paid well, came with good benefits, and treated its workers well, everyone would want to do it. There has to be some way for youngsters to show their dedication to the craft. Working for free in shitty conditions while dumping in your car* is the price of admission, comrade.

      *Full disclosure: I have shat in a bucket in my car on a number of occasions and none of them involved work or even minimal pay.

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        los yipesdothedew
        1/25/16 7:23pm

        Nah. We’re talking about productions that make hundreds of millions or billions of dollars. The cost of fair compensation across the board wouldn’t make a dent in that budget, and the collective creative “dedication” required to make these films is unchanged with or without car-shitting PAs.

        These sets aren’t even the real problem — it’s the fact that every budget gets skimmed before it ever gets to a line producer, who slashes it again to pay for everything elsewhere else, before a production manager strong-arms every last crew member into making less and working more, and every lats entry-level job goes to the lowest bidder.

        This isn’t about sucking it up and getting ahead, it’s studio, as a rule, making millions off the backs of the least qualified and most vulnerable workers it can risk hiring — only the most vulnerable in this case are mostly well-off white kids anyway, so, honestly, it’s really kind of weird that Gawker cares?

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        gigglestickierdothedew
        1/25/16 10:39pm

        Well isn’t that an unusual hobby.

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      UnderYetOverGabrielle Bluestone
      1/25/16 6:43pm

      They should give their executive producer a Gatorade shower after a successful shoot.

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        Howard the DuckUnderYetOver
        1/25/16 7:02pm

        I can't tell if you're being literal or implying something worse than Gatorade.

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        UnderYetOverHoward the Duck
        1/25/16 7:08pm

        Pee, I’m talking about pee.

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      The Noble RenardGabrielle Bluestone
      1/25/16 6:52pm

      I’m glad you clarified what that picture was from because I was about to comment that it looked like one of the skeleton puppets that they used during the Greenwich Village Halloween parade this year.

      Now that I think about it, they probably just sold the puppet to one of those groups.

      I mean.... It’s basically just this. Or actually is this:

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        roseyvThe Noble Renard
        1/25/16 7:52pm

        I had almost the same reaction! I saw the film being made, though, not the parade. I actually took a little video with my cell phone the night(s) I passed this on my way home from work, and I was never able to figure out what the heck was going on until now. So that’s all it was, huh? Oh, well.

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