Thread by @TheClaudiaBlack

If you’re an aspiring actor, and as my advice was good enough for a young Mcavoy I pray you’ll listen now.
When we were filming Pitch Black a producer came to give me a choice. They had a problem and needed to do a reshoot with me and a stuntie. The shoot thus far had been rough

https://twitter.com/ap/status/1451693779774234625

The crew was exhausted. 6 day weeks are unsustainable. Mistakes happen when crews are tired and often on the 6th day. The crew couldn’t say “no” to another Saturday but I could. I asked when they needed a decision & went to speak with some crew. I made sure that they themselves

were choosing —rest vs an overtime paycheck— I would not presume to know their needs and priorities. They chose safety and rest. “Safety First,” is after all, an oft heard refrain on any decent set with its priorities in check. I returned to the producer and told him I was too

tired and didn’t want to work the Saturday. He looked at me for a few seconds. I was a good actor and a bad liar. He went to say something, nodded instead and rescheduled. We do a lot of things on sets that would otherwise be illegal. It can be thrilling. It’s a privilege.

It should never cost
a life. I was in my early 20’s when I was asked to make that decision ostensibly for me though realistically on behalf of many. Thankfully I live without regret. For 30 years I’ve been working with firearms consistently and never once referred to a firearm

as a prop; it’s a deadly weapon. If you’re on a set that doesn’t provide weapons training & an armorer, I’d leave. If you see an actor put their finger on a trigger before action is called I’d step away, bring it to their attention and tell the AD & armorer a review is necessary.

If an armorer is using live amo on a set, leave, yet treat every “prop” as if it’s fully loaded & never point it at anyone. If anyone but the armorer tries to hand you a firearm, it’s a major red flag. There should be no middle man. Just you and your armorer make the exchange.

Actors get infantilized on sets then criticized for childish behavior. I don’t care what number you are on the call sheet. Lead. From the back of the pack if you have to. No job nor career is worth a life. I have pulled stunts early in my career when I could tell they were dodgy.

Your stunt double is there to make you look cool but they often do not feel empowered to speak up. Check in with them and use your voice. It’s not about heroism it’s about humanity and navigating frustrating and fateful hierarchies. Whenever I have weapons training and they ask

if I’ve had experience with firearms, after 30 years I still say, “Yes, but assume I know nothing and teach me everything.” (I am repeatedly told by armorers and stunt departments that women are easier to train bc they do not think they know everything.) Beginners Mind will keep

you humble and others safe. Film culture is unique. Our days are more 5-9 than 9-5. We work on a 24 hr clock and in TV and indie filmmaking, time is the enemy. We hurry up & wait right before we rush to complete the call sheet & before we lose light. We are carnie folk; the kids

who didn’t fit in; rebels, outliers,misfits, neurodiverse arty farties. We are a circus that packs up & leaves once the film or series is “in the can” never to reassemble with the same people in the same way again. We experience little deaths in our hearts every time we wrap.

Processing that grief & post shoot anticlimax is part of the gig after bonding closely with fellow wild ones hired to recreate some aspect of humanity,only to disperse and move on. We should never be grieving an actual crew member’s preventable death when playing make believe.

Play requires the safety of a responsible container. The producers are in charge of that. They need to set up that container, nourish and maintain it with crystal clear communication. They need to listen and actually care and follow through. They need to identify toxic behavior

and address it head on. For too long people who consider themselves to be “non creatives,” have indulged toxic and unsafe behaviors because they think it goes with the territory of being arty and are terrified that if confronted, the artist will walk off and filming will stop. So

In this tipping point moment and on this two-way street; actors, please, prioritize being good people before being a great artist. Put the crew first. Speak up. Cultivate an environment of verbal consent. I offer consent to male artists now and they are confused at first by the

offer. Persist. You can always find something that a male actor does not like having done to his body. And once you establish that baseline, all the off-air scripts change; vulnerability is better understood. Safety first. Because from safety, comes great play and beautiful art;

delicious co-creation. If you create great art
in spite of toxicity it’s a tenuous, unrepeatable, unsustainable and lonely phenomenon. So listen. Observe. Ask questions. Check in with the crew and make *them* cups of tea. Ask them how you make their jobs hard even though movie

stars aren’t supposed to. I am devastated about Halyna.
Walking onto a set on Friday morning right after reading the news, I had to work yet again with firearms and a wobbly yet fiercely professional stunt department. We had a top armorer quite literally in the trenches with

us. As I stepped onto the muddy set I turned to the armorer and said, “ I’m so grateful you’re here.” I turned to the courageous and dutiful stunties, asked if they were ok and said, “ If you see or feel something today that worries you, anything, and you speak up and are not

heard, find me and I shall speak. *Loudly*” Relative safety and art should be mutually inclusive. It’s where the secret sauce resides. It’s where true cinema magic is cultivated. The set is my home. If it’s yours too, treat it as you would, the safe haven it deserves to be—

especially for those of us who never found a home anywhere else.