Carol Skipwith
No doubt you’ve heard rumblings about the IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) film union’s recent displeasure within the industry, and of a potential strike from below-the-line workers. But you might not know it’s historic. In the union’s more than 100 years, it has never come this close to such steps, but with a general call for more pay, better insurance and improved working conditions, IATSE members are echoing concerns across much of America’s employment sectors. For Craft Services Department Head Hailey Josselyn, it’s about time for change. In her seven years working in film, Josselyn has seen the toll that long hours, few breaks and poor pay have caused. With a tenuous agreement between IATSE and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) on the horizon, we checked in with Josselyn to get a human take on the goings-on.
Can you give us an idea of the reasoning behind the recent IATSE news?
First off, I only speak for myself and not the whole union, but we’re not asking for anything out of the ordinary. We’ve all been, as workers, afraid to say ‘Hey, I’m really miserable,’ or ‘This isn’t cool that I never get to see my family, and my friends die in car wrecks on the way home.’ The time with the pandemic has given people this realization—and all we’re asking for is lunches, water, breaks. Sometimes it’s not getting a chance to go to the bathroom because there’s no chance to stop what you’re doing. It costs thousands per minute to shoot a movie. You don’t want delays, and for a lot of people I work with, my department included, you don’t always get those moments.
COVID made everything harder to get done. Just getting a chance to sit down and get off your feet, have a meal—we’re all human beings, and part of my job is making sure people have food and are hydrated, but you can’t always take your mask off, so a big stress has been people getting dehydrated because they’re not getting a chance to take their masks off and drink water. I also don’t think anybody thought [the pandemic] would last as long as it has. I think we thought once the vaccines came out, there would be a little more normalcy, but it hasn’t gotten better, so [working in film] is something that’s already a hard thing, and it’s making it harder—and I know it’s not just in my industry.
A lot of people are willing to go through a lot because they think they’re getting a chance to do their dream job. Well, this isn’t my dream job. Serving coffee on a set isn’t something I dreamed of doing when I was growing up. But it’s amazing what people will go through in the hopes it gets them to a better place, but there’s enough money to go around. We see how they come up with money for some things and not workers; there are no jobs that are easy on set, they’re just different kinds of hard.
A strike has been averted for now, but the scuttlebutt says union members are still not quite pleased with the terms. Can we assume this isn’t over?
Oh, it isn’t over. There’s still a vote [to ratify the terms of the agreement], and this is unprecedented. It hasn’t happened in over 100 and something years. There’s enough money for things, but it’s this manufactured scarcity where they tell us there isn’t enough. There is. This industry makes trillions of dollars and they can’t pay people more than $12 an hour? They’re paying some people $12 an hour, and they’re working them the hardest They’re selling hope that maybe—maybe—you might get where you want to be, so people will put up with a lot.
How can film and television fans support the workers?
I think right now, just awareness. Someone said something to me like, ‘You guys chose the job—it’s Hollywood,’ but empathy costs nothing. Furthermore, if we’re saying other people have it worse...other struggling people are not the problem. The chances of us being billionaires are so far off—we have a better chance of becoming homeless—and in film, we are talking unfathomable amounts of money, and all we’re struggling for is living day-to-day. There are people who are getting rich and famous off the backs of people below-the-line, and if workers didn’t do this, these [films and shows] wouldn’t be made, and those people wouldn’t be famous.
Honestly, if I wanted to just sell myself out and live comfortably, I could probably do that, but it isn’t just that. I’ve had people tell me, ‘You’re so loud, but you’ve got to play along to make a change.’ I don’t know. I’m glad for the experiences that have brought me to who and where I am, because it’s given me good perspective—and I’m hopeful things can get better—but I don’t think this is the end. I hope our union leaders we elected do right by us. We’re depending on that.
