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Description

Kiki, Hoja, and Mohanad break down everything that went wrong on the set of the Alec Baldwin film Rust that led to the tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. They discuss the assistant director’s questionable past, the two misfirings that happened earlier in the week, and the union crew’s walkout just hours before the fatal incident. Then, Kiki turns to prop master TikTok to figure out how things should have gone down if following proper protocol. Plus, Mohanad apologizes to another neighbor and Kiki reveals who her real father is.

Please note, I’m Sorry contains mature themes and may not be appropriate for all listeners.

Check out these resources from today’s episode:

• Check out prop master Scott Reeder’s full breakdown of what happened on the set of Rust: https://youtu.be/TP1X5L-AufQ
• Here’s where you can donate to support the family of Halyna Hutchins: https://www.gofundme.com/f/raise-funds-in-memory-of-halyna-hutchins
• And here’s a link to donate to the Halyna Hutchins Memorial Scholarship Fund: https://www.afi.com/halyna-hutchins-scholarship-fund/
• Hear more stories from film and entertainment workers about the issues affecting them on set: https://www.instagram.com/ia_stories/

You can find out more about our show @lemonadamedia on all social platforms, or follow us on Instagram @imsorry_podcast.

Need help saying sorry? Got any public apology fodder? Email us at imsorry@lemonadamedia.com or send us a DM on Instagram.

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For additional resources, information, and a transcript of the episode, visit lemonadamedia.com.

Transcript

SPEAKERS

Mohanad Elshieky, Kiki Monique, Hoja Lopez

Hoja Lopez  00:08

I’m Hoja Lopez. And this is I’M SORRY, a podcast about apologies. And this week, I would like to give a warm welcome to the woodland creatures that are gathering behind my house, by the trash, aka the rats.

Kiki Monique

You make them sound so fancy.

Hoja Lopez 

They’re very cute. And I wish I could control them with my mind and my singing voice. But it hasn’t quite happened yet. I’m not quite a princess.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Yeah, and this is Mohanad Elshieky. And this weekend, every week, really, I need to start going on more walks, because I realize I haven’t left the house in two days. And I am turning into one of those rats Hoja was talking about? You know? I don’t need them. I mean, if I have rats in my apartment, they’ll probably be roommates at this point.

Kiki Monique 

And I’m Kiki Monique. And I actually left my apartment this week for probably the first time in a couple days, and went to a lovely dinner with our boss, one of our bosses in my neighborhood and a restaurant I didn’t even know existed, which was super fun. So I liked actually getting dressed up for the first time in probably a year and a half.

Hoja Lopez 

I’m glad you had that time.

Kiki Monique 

It was good. It was good until well, at the very end of the dinner. That alert popped up on the phone about Alec Baldwin shooting someone. And that was like an abrupt, weird way to end the dinner. Because that is not an alert you expect to see on a random Thursday night. I’m assuming you’ve heard about this.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Absolutely. Yeah. And I, the thing is like when I saw the headline for the first time, and this is I guess a commentary about the media in our country is just that it was written in in a way that made you click on it because all it said is Alec Baldwin shot two people on set. And that’s it. And it’s just like, okay, what does that mean? Because they made it sound like he just went crazy and just sort of shooting people.

Kiki Monique  02:08

Yeah, exactly. Like, you know, because all of the other headlines we’ve ever seen about Alec Baldwin in the past or something, you know, he’s been angry at a paparazzi. He’s yelling at his daughter, all of these things. So, of course, they knew like, oh, Alec Baldwin shot someone. Okay, I’m easily gonna click on it. But then it’s like when you click on it, and you read the story, No, this is a much this is a tragic event. This is something that they should have used as clickbait headline. And this whole story is, you know, I’m traumatized by it. And I can’t even imagine the people on set who were there who had to witness it, like what they’re going to be dealing with, especially Alec.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Yeah. Well, I mean, as I said, like reading more details about it literally just get saddened and sad every time because like, I mean, we’ll get into this because other than the fact that the person died, which was the director of photography, Halyna Hutchins. And then the other person who was also shot and he’s, he’s making like a full recovery now, which is great. But then, you know, evolves from a story of just like one person dying to a whole other story with like, has so many layers about, like how Hollywood treats crew members, and the rights of the people who work for like in movies and TV show sets. And it’s such a, like, a huge conversation that needs to happen. You know?

Kiki Monique 

It’s very reminiscent of our like, last year and a half in the pandemic, right? Everyone kept talking about like, it was the perfect storm of events, all of these things that sort of happened within it, right? You know, George Floyd, all of those things. This felt very similar, you know, because I had been following online, Kristen Bell and Juliette Lewis, and they have been two of the voices that have been, you know, what they call for the below the line workers? I don’t like that term. I mean, I’d rather just say crew and, you know, all the people behind the scenes who are making these movies happen. Yeah, you know, they were basically saying, we need to get them better, better care, better labor rights, all of these things. Because, you know, when you go on set, a lot of times, you might go on at 7AM, not knowing you’re not going to leave until 7AM the next day, and like most people who work that is not, that’s not a reality, you go to work, you ended a certain time. But what is happening is like they’re working these long hours, you know, people are falling asleep, you know, on the road, and they’re just not getting the protections that you would expect in an industry.

Kiki Monique  04:32

So behind all of this happening is there was about to be like the first strike. And I think the 128-year period of this like you know union I think the union, IATSE. Yeah. So it was about to be the first strike and 128 years and this is going on as this movie set for Rust, which is being shot in New Mexico. So this movie, which Alec Baldwin is starring in. He’s also a producer on this film. So they’re shooting this film. They just started shooting it at the beginning of October. And basically, it sounded like during one of the rehearsals, Alec is handed a gun and is told “Cold Gun” by the Assistant Director Dave Hall. So he’s handed this gun off of a cart that had been prepared by this really young assistant, Hannah. And Alec gets the gun and shoots it and ends up shooting, Halyna Hutchins who’s 42. She’s a cinematographer, and the film’s director, Joel Souza. Halyna is shot in the chest, Joel, I don’t know where he shot, they’re both taken immediately to the hospital, Halyna has to get airlifted to like the only you know place in New Mexico that has a level one facility and ends up dying.

Kiki Monique  06:00

The Joel, the director, he ends up being released that day, he’s gonna make a full recovery. And so this is where it all starts. And it’s like, this is already tragic enough. Alec Baldwin has to now live with the rest of his life, knowing that he accidentally killed somebody which is already horrible enough, everyone on set had to witness that. But then as details start coming out about the story, it just gets even more sad because this was 100% preventable. First of all, this is not the type of job that you expect to go to work, right? And you don’t expect to come home. If you were to get in a car accident on the way to this job, it would be sad, but you would even you could wrap your head around it a little bit or you know you’re in a plane, but you don’t expect to go on set and not come home to your husband and kid that day. Because people weren’t doing their job, essentially. And that’s what it comes down to.

Hoja Lopez 

Yeah, it’s worth mentioning, I think that Rust starts as a low budget indie film. And that, you know, I think we don’t really understand how insurance premiums work and how they actually, you know, prepare for safety on these sets. But I think we should kind of like go through the entire process of, you know, how it actually kind of happened. So, Kiki, I guess my question general is more like, what went wrong? Because we I guess we don’t know all the safety issues or what it is to have a gun on set? Clearly, something happened. That wasn’t supposed to happen. So do you know the difference? Like what was supposed to happen versus what actually did?

Kiki Monique 

Well, I did end up deep in prop master TikTok. Well, you know, when I was reading the story, because like, there is there’s certain very niche elements of TikTok. And one of the prop masters. His name is Scott Reeder. He did a TikTok that sort of really explained like what is supposed to happen when you have a gun on set. Let’s take a listen.

Scott Reeder 

First and foremost, most important protocol is no live ammo on the set. No live rounds. A live round is a cartridge with a slug in it. A bullet that can kill someone, it appears that rule was breached. And next, once you have your cart set up with your guns, you do not leave it unintended. You always have someone with their eyes on it from your department. From what I’ve read, the first assistant director walked outside of the set to the weapons cart and grabbed one of three weapons that were sitting there on a cart that was unattended. That’s a breach. And the next breach in protocol is the AD  grabbing a gun no one should grab a gun, except the armor or the prop master. They were using Western revolvers. And when we do that, we use real revolvers. And we use blanks for when there’s gunfire. And then we use dummy rounds. You shake them they’re BB’s inside where black powder normally would be any following protocol; you would take your dummy rounds into the set with an empty gun. You go to the first assistant director, clear the gun first, you run a rod through the barrel to where they see the orange tip come out the other end of the barrel, they know that it’s clear. Then you show them all the cylinder holes. Their empty. The gun is clear. Hand the dummy rounds to the assistant director and he shakes each one he hears the BB’s hands you around you put it in the gun the same way for all six it’s ultimately on the first assistant director to confirm that that gun is safe. But none of that happened.

Kiki Monique 

First of all, there’s never supposed to be live rounds on set at all. So that’s like first thing. And then second is when there is an actual like handgun because in some cases they have to use handguns and for this particular movie it was supposed to be set in like the 18 hundred’s and so they needed like a vintage rifle and the shot was where you know the camera is looking down the barrel of the gun. So you can see the rounds in the chamber, which is why they had to have, you know, an actual gun because, you know, in my head I’m always like, don’t we have CG but again, this is a low budget film they don’t have the budget for CG and all that. So looking down the barrel of this gun. And so what is supposed to happen according to you know this TikTok I watch, you clear out the chamber with like, there’s like some like stick thing you stick in it before. So it really makes sure that there’s nothing in there. On top of it, the gun is never supposed to be left alone at any time on the set. So like at all times, someone has eyes, hands, on this gun, which it sounds like that wasn’t happening.

Kiki Monique  10:42

There’s also supposed to be like a union. I think there’s like an armorer is what they refer to them on set, and they have to be in the union. And it basically all of these things are in place. And anyone like Halyna assumes that these are happening right behind the scenes, because if everyone’s doing their job, if the armor is doing the job, nobody’s you know, let the gun out of their sight. And there’s not live rounds, there’s no reason that you shouldn’t be able to point a gun at a camera and pull the trigger for a scene. And it seems like those things absolutely didn’t happen. Because what we also know and this is based on, you know, crew who was on the set, who started speaking to the media, is because of the strike that was happening in the background. And because they ended up the Union did strike a temporary deal, a tentative deal. The crew members who already were saying that there were already unsafe conditions on the set.

Kiki Monique 

Now supposedly, there were two other misfires of a gun that had already happened prior to this. So because of this, the crew members were like, we don’t feel safe on this set. And now they’ve made a deal. And we don’t feel like we’re going to get any of our, you know, requests met if we don’t do a walk off. So they had done a walk off that morning, they showed up to set that morning, packed up all their stuff and walked off. And they were replaced by non-union staff to end up shooting the day. So that was like already a mistake. You have guns on set and you have people who aren’t trained, who are now working at last minute because you know, your union staff walked off, huge mistake.

Hoja Lopez  12:48

So Kiki, who is Halyna Hutchins, I feel like I’ve heard this name over and over again. Obviously, a tragedy has occurred. But I’d love to know more about her.

Kiki Monique 

Yeah, I mean, she was I mean, this is like a male dominated industry, right? So she stood out already as being you know, a woman in this industry. She, you know, everyone kept saying she’s a rising star in this industry. She had just done like, an action movie. I think with Joe Manganiello like called, like Arch Enemy or something. She was actually born in Ukraine. But she studied at the AFI. And she was named rising star by American cinematographer magazine in 2019. So she’s really coming into her own. She’d been married 16 years to her husband, who is an attorney. And they had a nine-year-old son.

Hoja Lopez 

It truly is, like an absolute tragic situation. And I know they did create like a GoFundMe to raise money for Hutchin’s family. And there’s also a scholarship fund in her name, we’ll put a link in the show notes, but there are ways that you can kind of support their family.

Kiki Monique 

When the crew walked off set, she stayed there, right? And like, it’s, again, a testament to like how we as women, right? Like we put up with so much shit, just to like, be able to fucking have a career sometimes, you know, because one of the actors who knew her at the candlelight vigil for her said that, you know, even after losing her whole crew who had walked off in protest, she stayed because she felt the responsibility for everyone else’s job there.

Hoja Lopez  14:26

Which we glamorize this and I want to commend her for it. And I want to commend all women who are strong and work in these environments, but it’s also like, she lost her life, not because of that, in particular, but it’s one of the decisions that led to that. And I mean, when we talk about death, it just so easily gets philosophical. But in this case, it’s like when you can just see step by step to how this happened. It makes it all the more frustrating that it could have not happened.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Exactly. Yeah. And the thing is like, there is no movie that is worth losing anyone’s lives over it, period, you know? Because I feel like there’s this whole culture of trying to save as much money as possible in making any movie, really, not just low budget like anything, because there’s this whole idea of that you can like make an Oscar nominated movie with just your iPhone. So I feel like everyone is striving to do that. Even if it you know, even if it put some people lives in danger, the thinking behind it, you’re like, well, it’s worth it, though. Because the you know, like, you have to have some risks. I mean, no one imagined someone dying, but still, you know, like, you should be like risking stuff in order to make this stuff happen. And I know you said like, no one would expect that they’re not going to go home from a job like that. That is what it should be. But I feel like I don’t know if you guys saw that account that was like posting all of these stories, like from a crew members. And it was an Instagram account.

Kiki Monique

It’s like IA stories. It was Ben Gottlieb, who think he was like, a lighting guy who worked behind the scenes. And yeah, it started this well before.

Mohanad Elshieky  16:07

And the thing is, like, as you read these stories, is just like, oh, I think those people just like all the thought that there’s a high chance that they won’t make it home from the set. Because of the ways that they’ve been treated, because like, there’s so many stories about people like literally falling asleep, while like they’re driving, because, you know, they’re working all day, they don’t get enough time to sleep, they don’t get to do anything. So once you learn about all of that, as much as it it’s tragic that someone died on set. Now knowing all of these facts, it doesn’t really surprise me

Kiki Monique 

Exactly, this is what is going to happen. Because of all of this setup.

Hoja Lopez 

It reminds me to of like, if you look at a movie as like a microcosm of society to which is like, you have people at the top, and then you have your, you know, your least favorite line kids like below the line. And the people who are usually affected in society are people who are technically below the line, out in the world, you know what I mean? It’s usually impoverished people, people who make the least amount of money who work hourly, who work in curating an experience or in creating the foundation so that other people can kind of enjoy their lives somewhat. And, to a certain extent, I see the crew in that same stratosphere, where’s the sense of like, these people matter less, they’re sort of like the […], there’s just a lot of them. And we can replace them quickly if one doesn’t want to do this horrible work that we’ve set out for them. And I think it turns into this thing of like, again, big, big production houses, or even at this point is the pressures put on the people that are at the bottom, to make up the bottom line for the people that are at the top.

Hoja Lopez 

And I mean, we’ve seen that negatively affect us in the real world. So it makes perfect sense that it does in on a movie set as well, you know, when you’re at the top of a call sheet like Alec Baldwin, I can imagine that he would have one set of experiences on set, but then he’s also a producer. So he’s sort of part of the waterfall culture, what’s like, the decisions that he’s making at the top are permeating and affecting people at the bottom, which also bears to mention that as I was looking about what the movie is about, it actually is about a 13-year-old that’s convicted of an accidental murder. And the whole actual premise of the movie is about somebody accidentally killing somebody, and then being sentenced based on that accident. And so as usual, it feels like Hollywood is this mixture of like real life meeting, kind of like the tragic circumstances, you know, on a movie set. But in terms of the safety piece, I mean, the stories that I was reading on the Instagram about people falling asleep about, like, the culture of safety being annoying for people on set, like it doesn’t people don’t really care about the safety piece, I guess, because it doesn’t, it almost like goes against the bottom line. You know, it’s like the safety piece actually slows things down for kind of the money-making movies.

Mohanad Elshieky  19:08

People get annoyed at you if you bring something like that up, because now you’re requiring them to do more stuff. And it’s just like, what, well, there’s a reason to why that is because you don’t want someone to be accidentally shot.

Kiki Monique

Yeah, and I feel like you know, it’s unfortunate that like, tragedy has to happen for like things to make change. But like this is like this is the society we live in. This is the culture we live in where until something major happens. It’s like it starts out as this sensational story of Alec Baldwin, you know, shooting two people on set, and like so much more comes out of it, which I think will ultimately help the industry. You know, but of course because it started as this sensational story. And Alec Baldwin is the face of it. Of course he is the first one that has to come out essentially and apologize which is all he can do is sort of tweet Mohanad. Can you read what Alec wrote?

Mohanad Elshieky  20:06

Yeah, it says, you know, there are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident took level of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleagues of ours, I’m fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred. And I am in touch with her husband offering my support to him and his family. My heart is broken for her husband and son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.

Kiki Monique 

And so, you know, of course, that was the expected thing to come out, you know, immediately after the shooting. But then because of the tragedy surrounding it, and people feeling like no, this isn’t the reason like Alec Baldwin is not the reason this happened. And like, I think they wanted to make that very clear, like he was also a victim in this. And like that needs to be addressed. And so this sort of like Fallout and aftermath afterwards, is where we start hearing all of the details of like, all of the things that had gone wrong on set. So like even leading up to, you know, before the shooting, crew members who had been promised, you know, hotel rooms to like, stay the night, like, we’re suddenly no, we don’t have rooms for you. And they’re like, so you want us working, you know, 14–18-hour days, and then sleeping in our cars on set. Like, that’s really the response. And, again, these two Miss firings that supposedly happened before, they were not feeling like I don’t want to be here. But they’re also like, this is my career. This is my job. I mean, people, you know, usually people in this career, they’ve been thinking about this for a long time, like they’re willing to, like, you know, make no money for years just to get in because Hollywood is such a right like a protected industry. It’s like there’s so much nepotism, it’s who knows who, and that’s another layer on top of this, because you get these jobs, and you kind of are protected, you’re like in it for life, it’s almost like there’s like a gatekeeping that happens like that you don’t pass on a lot of knowledge, you know, and the people at the top of these positions get complacent. And this is where all of that safety goes out the window. Because the you know, Assistant Director Dave Halls, who is the one who handed out Alec the gun, you know, after the shooting, someone who worked with Dave on a previous set, claims that he didn’t ever do any safety meetings, he really didn’t care about safety. And I didn’t really feel comfortable when I was working on this on a totally different set with him.

Hoja Lopez  22:50

That’s so wild, it definitely continues to kind of it coordinates with a lot of what I’ve been hearing in terms of like that a lot of people had to make a mistake in order for this to happen, you know, and when that is the case, it’s a culture thing. It’s not a specifically one individual. It’s almost like the trouble was brewing. And it was all kind of leading up to this pinnacle of this shot where he’s directly facing a human being probably a shot where they should have been the most careful of all, and then this happens. And yes, you can take it back to like the lack of safety meetings on the set, you can tack it to the Union camera crew leaving, you can talk it on to these, you know, to the fact that it’s a low budget movie. And at the same time, it’s like that’s happening all over these movies are being made in the same way all over the place. And it’s a serious, serious culture issue. Yeah, and I really hope that the IATSC thing really sort of like comes to a head. And I hope that this propels them to ask for even more things because it only accentuates how important the crew is, and how easily things could go wrong.

Kiki Monique  24:20

One of the most like chilling things I read was, you know, a bunch of investors who were on the film, there was like seven production companies who had invested in this film. And one of the production companies was this Streamline Global company.

Hoja Lopez

Their name already.

Kiki Monique 

And they had done this, like what you know, one of the people who I think was the co-founder, someone had done an interview for variety. And one of the most chilling lines I read was films are the byproduct of the comprehensive tax planning strategies we employ for our clients. So it says that Streamline Global founded this company in order to use films produced with production tax incentives as vehicles to create tax breaks for wealthy investors. So essentially, the people behind the scenes are like, okay, we got to get the best return on investment for the people on the film. So how do we make that happen? Well, this is how it happens is that you don’t pay people, you make them work long hours, you know, no overtime, unpaid, you don’t provide, you know, housing for them, they sleeping in their cars, or they have to drive after working these 18 hour shifts and falling asleep at the wheel. And again, the people who are doing this are like, I’m doing it for the art, whereas like, these people could care less. If you put like a shit on a screen, it seems like if it made money.

Mohanad Elshieky 

These movies, these TV shows, all of these things like would not happen without these people. Like it’s not the actors, it’s not the writers, it’s literally the people on set making things happen and making this magic. And without them, there’s nothing, nothing will happen, nothing will get done. So the whole thing about just, it should be just thankful to be part of this Hollywood experience is such an insane thing. Because it’s just like, it’s truly not worth it, if you’re not being you know, treated well and like have your rights and the first right being able to go home. At the end of the day. You know?

Hoja Lopez  26:25

It seem like the last industry that does that, like I don’t, I mean, I’m sure that there’s others, but it’s like the last sort of like current modern industry, where I found it normal for people to be working 18-hour days, I don’t know of anything else, you know?

Mohanad Elshieky 

Normal. I think just like in the entertainment industry, in general, we do, like, romanticize the struggle of it, you know, in every aspect of it, like not even just you know, not even the crew members, just like even the, you know, the writers, the performers, and everything you have to have, like, you know, you struggle and you go through a lot in order for like beautiful art to come out. And I think that’s what needs to be addressed. As well as just like know, people are gonna actually, like, live really good lives and not suffer mentally, and things will still get done, and they will be as beautiful.

Kiki Monique 

That’s what’s the ironic part is because the people who are putting in all those hours, because they believe like whatever it takes to make this beautiful piece of art, I’m willing to like blood, sweat, and tears put it in. But the people who are financing these films are taking advantage of that fact. Because they want you to like work yourself to the bone so that they can be the most profitable.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Yeah, exactly. They truly do not care. And that’s why I feel like we also have like a lot of like, you know, I mean, aside from all of this, a lot of like bad TV coming out because it’s just, you know, it generates a lot of income and a lot of money. And so at the end of the day, art is not the, is not the message is conveyed here, it’s, you know, how much money these people can make, how much tax breaks that they can get, and all of that, and then you know, and then you pay crew members, nothing.

Hoja Lopez  28:10

Yeah, it’s definitely like on a larger scale, it reminds me of the idea that like, we have been consuming content like crazy, that all these things are made to fulfill like a voracious appetite for the amount of movies, the award systems like all of those things that kind of fuel each other. And it definitely feels like we’re putting everything on the line and continually at the expense of human beings getting the things that we want in America. Yes, like the land of like consuming Netflix and consuming products that we have no idea where they come from, or who has to suffer in order for them to actually exist. And this podcast in general, a lot of what I come to or the conclusions that I come to almost every time we talk about these apologies, is that it’s just such big systemic forces that are included and whether or not people are willing to take responsibility for what happened on that set. What happens in the news cycle, what happens all over. And I’m just glad that these organizations are finally saying like raising a huge red flag on the working environment and Hollywood, and this is a really sad and unfortunate, sort of like Pinnacle to the very worst-case scenario of what can happen when you just allow this to run rampant. You know?

Kiki Monique 

Yeah I mean, I actually want to offer an apology, because I mean, during the lockdown, I remember getting so angry that enough content wasn’t being produced for me. And I’m sitting at home like what where are the shows I need something to watch. Come on people, let’s make it happen. And oh my god, how greedy of me, you know, because now we’re at a place where, now, people are wanting getting back to work. They’re having to catch up on all of that right? The content that wasn’t being made during the lockdown. So there’s all that work for that plus, you know, again, there’s an app for everything. There’s content like, that needs to be generated for all of these different outlets at all these times. But yet, we don’t have people who are being trained or paid to learn the industry. And like you said, just like, can you make this an Oscar winning film on an iPhone? Okay, great. So here’s what I’ll give you an intern and an iPhone.

Hoja Lopez  30:37

Yeah. It’s definitely like, maybe we can start internally by like adjusting our expectations of films and turn around. And I remember I just got angry when I found out that the second part of Dune is probably not going to come out until the end of 2023-2024. I’m like, well, what am I gonna do for the next three years? It seemed I’m like, oh, it’s actually one of the largest undertakings is to make something is to make anything, just this podcast is so much work, you guys. And it’s always like this feeling of like, we forget the building blocks of how things happen. And one of the things that I was really interested to with this on the strike, and I’m gonna, it’s gonna fumble every time it comes out of my mouth, IATSE, some of the things that they’re actually asking for, it’s living wages, working conditions for streaming, so not making a differentiation between like streaming platforms. And these indie films are these films from, you know, major production houses, things like meal period penalties, which is a huge thing that I’d never heard of, either as people, companies or people who are making movies, they have to pay a fee, if some if one of their employees or a penalty if one of their employees misses lunch, but they found that it’s more profitable to pay those penalties, that to actually allow their employees to take their lunch breaks. So what happens is, they just pay the penalties and people have to work through their lunch breaks. And so part of again, the strike is increasing these meal period penalties to where it’s not feasible for companies that are going to be actually hurting in the pocket, if they make an employee skip food, weekend rest periods, from like, 54 to 32 hours, a whole thing of sick leave benefits to their entire community. It’s basic things that a lot of Americans already have.

Kiki Monique  32:36

You would think they were being asking for something, you know?

Hoja Lopez 

No, it’s just a normal working environment. And when you’re under that much pressure, of course, accidents are gonna happen. Like, it’s almost like a miracle happen, every single movie that they have.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Exactly, I mean, it’s normal, like, look at the, you know, airlines industry, if you’re like a flight attendant, or like a pilot or something and you flew for, like, I don’t know how many hours you have to have at least, you know, a 48 hours rest or something after like, each flight or so. And that’s just, you know, very normal, no one complains about it. But then like, this is also a term that I just like learned, which is like turning around time. And it turns out, you know, turnaround time is basically you know, to go home and come back to set. And they only have 10 hours. And most of these people are like, usually movie sets and all are like, not in the city that are kind of further away. So if I drive for an hour to get there, and I drive for an hour back, I literally have eight hours. So I’m just supposed to go to sleep this second I get home.

Kiki Monique 

Immediately, down.

Hoja Lopez 

This is sustained. This is over a six-month period, a long period. Some movies take two years to film. I just can’t even imagine. I can’t even imagine the level of work and pressure that goes into being on a set like that.

Kiki Monique 

Exactly. I mean, and so it’s, you know, the shooting happened in six hours after the union camera crew left, so it’s you know, and there was no union prop master onset, like, again, all of these things that are happening, obviously, like, there’s going to be continuing investigations, and no charges have been filed. And you know, it’s unlikely that Alec will be charged criminally because again, this wasn’t Alec’s fault, this was like a bunch of things that happen and he is just as much of a victim. But I will say that there is a chance because he is a producer on this film. If he was contributing to this environment in any way. That is where he’s definitely gonna get caught up, right? Because if he was trying to, you know, make the most money and was […], the fact that they were bringing in these non-union workers or having people sleep, you know, in their cars and working these hours, because that ultimately, is the crime here. All of those things combined is what contributed to this.

Mohanad Elshieky  34:59

Yeah. I feel like that’s the point a lot of like the media and like the people are missing on, it’s just like, This is not about Alec Baldwin, you know, being a criminal or not. And you don’t have to be an Alec Baldwin fan to, you know, admit that he I mean, it’s an accident is fucked up at that happened is a fucking tragedy but you know that’s not what this is about this is not about him this is not about just Alec Baldwin just about, you know, a systemic issue in the industry and just in general like, you know, workers’ rights in general, which is a whole other conversation. But I don’t know, I just feel like people like need to have more, you know, more compassion to the people who make their favorite stuff. And you know, if you want better movie, you want better shows, you probably also want to start with giving these people a better lives. And it’s kind of like eventually will trickle down into what you’re watching.

Kiki Monique 

So, I know that the […] so I know that there’s going to be a vote coming up, you know, again, the motion picture or like the alliance of Motion Picture and Television had made a tentative deal with the IATSE. And you know, they were calling it like a Hollywood deal. Like, everything’s great. But like some people felt like they still weren’t getting their demands met. But, this deal can’t go through until the union votes on it. So, hopefully something good will come out of this tragedy in that, like, let’s push back, you know, until all of the demands are met that makes everyone feel safe on set. We’re not going to sign a deal.

Mohanad Elshieky  36:37

And now it’s time for my favorite segment. Sorry, not sorry. I’m going to start with Kiki. what’s up this week? What’s new?

Kiki Monique 

I need to apologize to people who are in DC, I used to live in DC. And today, we found out that Colin Powell passed away I’m very sad, you know, he was an awesome dude. And when I was in DC, and I would be drinking and I’d be at a bar and there’d be strangers. For some reason. I used to lie that Colin Powell was my dad. No idea, why it would just be funny because it was like he was this like powerful guy in DC. And I was Black and nobody would ever question it. And it would just be a thing. I would tell strangers and then I would just like go home the next day. Forget about it. And so I want to apologize to anyone who thinks that I lost my father today because, I did not, my father is alive and well. Cuz my father is not Colin Powell. So I’m sorry.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Kiki? Well, I would highly recommend not checking any of my tweets today. About Colin Powell. I’m glad you stay away. I’m glad he’s not your father. Anyway, Hoja, what’s up this week?

Hoja Lopez 

Okay, today, my apology, I’m gonna apologize because I recently got into a fight, guess with who, my partner, because she continually insists to interrupt my real-life conversations to show me memes on her phone. To which I respond with a violent swat down saying I’m busy right now speaking to a human person. And then she got upset at that and said, well, memes are really important to me. And I really need you to partake in this part of my life. And that was a real argument that we had. And so I just want to apologize to her for not really being able to see how valuable and important they are. And how big of a part of you know her life. And I would like to share that more.

Mohanad Elshieky  38:37

I mean, who doesn’t want to see memes? I think you’re very wrong here.

Hoja Lopez 

Yeah, no. And I was in the middle of a conversation with my friend who was maybe crying because something like emotional it was happening to her, which was then interrupted by a cackle, and then a phone being shoved in my face. But again, I’m sorry.

Kiki Monique 

I mean, meme is literally made up of the words me, me. So if somebody is showing you a meme, pay attention, me, me.

Hoja Lopez

Yeah. Again, my bad. I’ll go back and you know, sleep on that and come back with a different feeling.

Mohanad Elshieky

Well, we live in we learn, and you’re wrong. So, I’m glad you apologize. Well, who do I want to apologize to obviously, one of my neighbors who live in the building, I’m truly, truly destroying everyone’s lives every day. You know, I just came back from traveling like two days ago, and I arrived like 12AM and I was with someone in the elevator. And you know, I live on the 10th floor. So I just clicked on it, you know, and then the other person pressed on something else. And then when we got to the floor, that person left and I left right behind them. You know, it’s you know, we both live on the same floor, I guess. And then I walk to where my apartment is. And I tried to open the door and it just wanted open so I just like, you know, so ringing the doorbell. Oh, my God. And then someone came out it was just like literally just like woke up from sleep and they’re just like, what, what? And I was just like, oh, this is definitely the wrong floor.

Kiki Monique  40:22

Again you’re just walking through life just doing your thing.

Mohanad Elshieky 

And I was so tired I didn’t even bother explain. I was like, I’m sorry, whatever and just walked away. Anyway, my apologies to that, but at least I didn’t like knock very hard on the doors and they were like, sorry, yelling, I don’t know I’m glad the door wasn’t open. Imagine if it was open and you just went in.

Kiki Monique 

That’s gonna be a problem. I mean if they’re even open like, I’m one of those people that if I get it knock on the door, and I’m not expecting anyone like I turn off lights. That’s the most terrifying thing in the world.

Mohanad Elshieky 

Oh, absolutely. Yeah.

Hoja Lopez 

Honestly, that’s all my friendships that you’re describing. So that might be difficult. I’m like, I’m gonna go show up at this person’s house.

Kiki Monique 

Oh, I’m glad you live in a different state that because I would be so mad at you.

Hoja Lopez 

Just imagine myself outside of Kiki’s home going, Kiki, do you love me? Kiki’s turning off lights and is underneath are covered like oh my god, there is this fucking psychopathic woman who wants to be my friend outside of my house. Yeah, love languages. They’re just different.

CREDITS

I’M SORRY is a Lemonada Media Original. The show is produced by Alex McOwen, supervising producer is Kryssy Pease. Our executive producers are Stephanie Wittels Wachs and Jessica Cordova Kramer. Our mix is by Kat and theme music was composed by Xander Singh. If you like this show, please rate and review. And please don’t cancel us. You can find out more about our show at @LemonadaMedia on all social platforms, or follow us on Instagram at @imsorry_podcast. We’ll be back next week and until then be nice, play fair and always say I’m sorry. Thanks for listening!