When news reports revealed no CSX representatives accompanied the Midnight Rider film crew, railroad, and film professionals knew immediately the film crew was trying to steal a shot. When George Clooney's Leatherheads production worked on Norfolk Southern in Salisbury and Linwood Terminal, NC, in 2007, more than 100 NS personnel were involved.
More than two dozen NS and Leatherheads production officials were on hand for the arrival of the movie train at the Salisbury Depot. The operating test, three days before the location "went to camera," showed the new station platform protruded an inch too close to #604's side rods. Two hours of Sabre saw work resolved the issue. Photo courtesy of Leatherheads.
Leatherheads Railroad Coordinator Art Miller (second from right) talks with NS Operating and Mechanical personnel. Photo courtesy of Leatherheads.
Miller and NS Trainmaster check clearances for North Carolina Transportation Museum steam engine #604 at the Salisbury depot. Photo by Eddie Thomas.
The death of a film crewmember on a CSX railroad bridge west of Savannah, Ga., last month is causing waves of remorse and reexamination throughout the railroad and production industries. Sarah Jones, an energetic and creative 27-year-old 2nd camera assistant, died on the opening day of Midnight Rider filming, a feature-length biopic of rocker Gregg Allman.
The accident immediately brought comparisons to the 1982 Twilight Zone helicopter crash that claimed the lives of Director Vic Morrow and two child actors. The helicopter wreck triggered major film industry safety rule revisions.
By now, you may have heard the basics. Jones was hit by debris from a hospital bed placed in the middle of CSX tracks on the Altamaha River bridge near a Rayonier paper mill complex. She then was struck by the train. Seven others were injured.
According to Wayne County Sheriffs’ Department investigators, the film crew was not authorized to be on CSX property. News reports made it clear that a slimmed-down shooting crew tried to “steal a shot” in the best (or worst) tradition of “guerrilla” film-making. Among those on the set that afternoon were Director Randall Miller and star William Hurt.
It’s too early to tell if Jones’ death on the railroad bridge just outside of Jesup will result in similar sweeping overhauls of film industry safety rules relating to railroads. The smart money says it will. Here’s a review of key players’ likely responses at the rail-production industry junction.
Directors Guild of AmericaFilm industry insiders expect the biggest reaction will come from the powerful Directors Guild of America (the DGA) whose members work on film projects both large and small. The Guild has yet to formally respond.
Odds favor the DGA’s response will stress reinforcing the members’ absolute right to refuse to work in unsafe conditions, to overrule a very few directors who will risk getting a “money shot” at all costs. Rail safety managers say new DGA training also must teach film crews to spot what constitutes emerging unsafe situations.
Major Film StudiosOnly major studios can bankroll the $100+ million films like Unstoppable. At least two studios are considering requiring a railroad coordinator or a rail expert to help design and supervise work on live tracks.
There are real problems here. Retirements are thinning the original railroad coordinator group. There is no identifiable trainee group, and no established rail coordinator standards.
As a railroad manager, I am always leery when film projects’ railroad scenes fall into the hands of someone who has “done trains before.” Railroads may require a higher level of film company expertise and crew training.
Class 1 railroads and big regionalsThe Class 1 railroads and big regionals have long viewed film work as an interruption to their core business of running trains. Traffic densities, long-term customer service commitments, and lack of spare equipment and staff leave no room for movie trains.
Still, film companies large and small dutifully query railroad public relations departments, hoping against hope they might luck up and get a favorable response. And the public relations folks still review the projects, field film commission pleas, only to hand up the inevitable rejection letter.
I predict Class 1 railroads and big regionals now will more quickly say “No!” unless the railroad has a clearly defined benefit such as being portrayed in a favorable light in the script. Perhaps this episode will convince the film industry to stop asking if traffic can be “held for a few hours” around, say, Kingman, Ariz., or Cumberland, Md.
Other key players
Unfortunately, multiple chapters of this story will be written in the Wayne County, Ga., courthouse in Jesup. Variety, an entertainment industry trade publication, reports that a homicide probe has been opened into who decided to put a film crew onto the bridge. More than careers appear in jeopardy. Extensive civil litigation is a certainty.
Many filmmakers regard a railroad location as a “movie set with a railroad running through it.” Perhaps this incident will convince the film industry it is now time to view a railroad location as “a railroad with a production company attached to it.” If this happens, then some good may come from Sarah Jones’ death and the seven injuries.
Art Miller is safety, training, and operating crew certification manager for Iowa Pacific Holdings and has served as Railroad Coordinator on more than 70 feature films, TV movies, mini series, and commercials.
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