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A hearing in Manhattan on August 24 could significantly enlarge the class action suit two Black Swan interns brought last year against Fox Searchlight. In an order made public today (read it here), Judge William Pauley III has agreed to a conference next week on Alex Footman and Eric Glatt’s request to amend their suit. “Plaintiffs will seek to broaden the scope of the case to include all interns who participated in Fox Entertainment Group’s (‘FEG’s”) internship program,” wrote their lawyer Rachel Bien in an August 2 memo to the judge. The duo also want to separate the class of interns for their suit into “Corporate Interns,” those who worked through the FEG program, and “Production Interns,” those who worked on films that Fox Searchlight co-produced. To that end the amended suit will add two new plaintiffs, Eden Antalik and Kanene Gratts. The former worked through the FEG program and the latter worked on 2009’s (500) Days of Summer, a Searchlight co-produced film. The legal documents also state that “Ms. Gratts would seek to bring classwide claims under California’s Unfair Competition law for unpaid minimum wages on behalf of Production Interns who worked in California.
Fox had no comment today on the potential expansion of the suit. Footman and Glatt took their action on behalf of themselves and more than 100 Fox Searchlight interns last September to seek back wages for work that they did that they feel they should have been paid for. Then suit also aimed to cease what it says is the studio’s incorrect use of students for what is supposed to be training similar to that provided by an educational institution, not getting coffee and other grunt work. Early last October, after the initial suit was filed, Fox fired back that the two were never actually Searchlight interns and were actually working for Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky’s production company. “These are completely meritless claims aimed solely at getting press coverage for the litigants and their attorneys,” Fox said. Fox Searchlight isn’t the only company put under the intern spotlight recently. In March of this year, former Charlie Rose Show intern Lucy Bickerton filed a class action suit against the PBS show alleging it exploits its interns. Footman and Glatt are represented by Rachel Bein and Adam T. Klein of New York firm Outten & Golden LLP.
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Great. I’m sure they weren’t told up front that they wouldn’t get paid right? That’s why it’s called an unpaid internship. Those kids are so lucky to have an opportunity so many other would die for. If you don’t want to be an intern don’t be an intern. Get paid your min wage and work for Starbucks. This kind of lawsuit should have penalties against the plaintiffs for ruining it for their younger sibs,
I would hardly call Glatt a kid, as he is 42 years old.
What is it with you people? Just b/c it’s the film industry, they can treat people like slaves? Slavery ended years ago.
I think it’s great if this turns into a class action that exposes this disgusting industry wide practice and leads to more class actions against the studios and slimy producers.
Do you feel the same way about financial companies that do the same thing? Oh these kids are getting a great opportunity to work on Wall Street. They should work for free.
I commented on the guy being 42 years old, and you jump to ‘I support studio slavery’. Also, thanks for letting me know that slavery is officially over – I wasn’t aware of that.
These interns know it’s tough to break in and thought an unpaid internship was one way to get their foot in the door. They also must have known that besides not getting paid, they are too inexperienced to do anything hands-on with production, so they would be relegated to other work. From the article –
Then suit also aimed to cease what it says is the studio’s incorrect use of students for what is supposed to be training similar to that provided by an educational institution, not getting coffee and other grunt work.
I’m not saying this isn’t a crappy situation, but these interns probably knew that going into this. Also, saying the practice of hiring unpaid interns only occurs in Hollywood is disingenuous. Financial services, healthcare, energy and manufacturing all have large companies that hire unpaid interns, who’s job is to do grunt work that a secretary, analyst or associate would generally do.
Unpaid internships are NOT widespread in the other industries you mentioned. Hollywood and the music industry are by far the two biggest abusers of unpaid interns. Financial services firms, etc. of the same size and brand name status of these studios pay their interns.
This is 100% true. In every other industry, interns are paid, and often a decent wage. In the public accounting (finance) realm, interns will sometimes make MORE than associates because they are paid hourly and get overtime.
Hollywood is such a small system that they know that interns will never speak out, lest they be blackballed from their dreams of being a producer/director/writer etc.
I quit an internship on a big studio lot after a too big for his britches CE yelled at me and treated me like an idiot for not being able to read and comprehend 370 pages of medieval folklore in a day. I’m someone helping you… FOR FREE. Treat me with some respect.
you know what assholes? I am an out of work Production Assistant…thanks to producers giving my job away to interns in order to save a few dollars. good for former interns for risking their relationships with Fox and these producers in order to remind them that they are not above the law. reality check: pa’s and interns are NOT the spoiled ones
Ha! Echo Joe’s last sentence, x12!!
Sure, act flip and superior. You don’t know the first thing about what you are commenting on. “Interns” in California have a strict legal definition. Among other factors, an intern cannot do work that a company would otherwise pay an employee to do. Clearly, the overwhelming majority of kids workingintel terms do not meet the legal definition. And while you gripe about being litigious, minimum wage Can’t be waived, even by a person who wishes to consent. Hollywood should pay it’s bills like everyone else. Just because these jobs can be a stepping stone, and there’s a long history of The studios and pc’s taking Advantage of folks who want to work in the industry does not make it right. Kids can still pay their dues with back-breaking work while getting paid minimum wage and overtime according to the law.
The dept. of labor has clear guidelines for internships that are seldom followed including: A clear end time of the internship. Not replacing the work of other (potential) employees. The work be educational in nature. The internship cannot be a trial period with the explanation that “hardwork” will lead to a job, aka an extended audition (most commonly violated). Most companies would not get interns without breaking this last one.
These laws exist for a reason otherwise, (among many effects), only the wealthiest people (who have other means of support) would be able to work in this industry.
In general, only the wealthiest people (who have other means of support) ARE able to work in this industry. I know these interns are burning bridges, but it would be nice if they had some sort of impact. How many offices have we all seen where jobs that should be done by paid employees are done by interns? Just because it’s possible to get away with it, doesn’t mean it’s legal or moral. I wish the interns well.
Awww. You had to get get people coffee? Boo Hoo.
More self entitled jerks. The generation who wants and deserves everything they want.
That’s totally not the point. Paid jobs are being taken away from other people by the use of these interns. The issue is not that these specific people should have been paid to do this, but that they should have been doing things that fulfilled the legal definition of an internship while OTHER people were PAID to do the work they did. Internships were not designed to provide spendthrift companies with armies of unpaid employees. It’s illegal.
I really do not understand the mentality here that someone is extremely entitled because they want to be paid minimum wage to WORK.
Awww. You had to get coffee for people, princess? Boo Hoo.
Self entitled jerks. Welcome to the generation that wants it all and deserves it all. After all, that’s what their parents told them.
Well, at least your rewrite was an improvement…
The ageism in these comments is quite ignorant and ridiculous. Exploitation is exploitation. There’s a reason why so many unions exist in the “fun” industry.
We want everything and deserve everything? Coming from a generation of men and women who destroyed our economy because their houses weren’t big enough, couldn’t stay married because their marriages weren’t perfect enough. A generation riddled with greed and decadence. No, you didn’t work hard for it, you exploited and borrowed too much money.
My generation has the highest unemployment rate in 60 years and we find it a hard pill to swallow when our boss’s can’t make a Microsoft spread sheet or a good movie yet are ENTITLED to extreme wages. Get out of the way old guys, it’s time to retire.
This comment is amazing
I concur.
So many of you sound like complete idiots. This is not a question of paying Inez’s dues. Minimum wage and overtime CANNOT be waived in California even of an individual wishes to consent you morons think the entertainment business is so special and rarified — “we tell stories!”. Grow up. Little children tell stories, too, but it doesn’t Mean you have to act like them. If this was any other business, you would not dream of claiming a person who adds value by breaking their back shouldn’t get paid. How about unpaid “interns” at Best Buy, MCDonald’s or KMart? What’s the difference? California law is very clear — an “intern” is not exempt from wage laws if he or she adds ANY value to an organization and/or fills a role that an organization would otherwise have to hire a regular paid employee. Despite how highly you all think of yourselves, the the so-called dues you paid and the crappy “stories” you tell, your world has to follow the law like every other industry. Just because you werent paid doesn’t make it right.
Now if only Satoshi Kon and Yoshikazu Takeuchi got paid.
1) interns will no longer be accepted into any studio production because of this suit. that’s a fact.
2) there shouldn’t be interns on studio projects. they should be paid. fact.
3) small productions try sketchy nonsense like hiring interns to be on set talent assistants or even worse, talent drivers. yet another fact.
4) every single one of these interns was worthless and useless. every single p.a. and intern that worked this project will testify to that.
interns get hired as p.a.’s or considered for future jobs because they do what it takes without being asked twice or throwing a fit.
1) interns will no longer be accepted into any studio production because of this suit. that’s a fact.
Agreed.
2) there shouldn’t be interns on studio projects. they should be paid. fact.
BS. If they were paid then they would find something else to bitch about. They want life handed to them on a silver platter. Not all, only about 95% of them. I know this because I worked with many of them.
3) small productions try sketchy nonsense like hiring interns to be on set talent assistants or even worse, talent drivers. yet another fact.
In this instance the interns are equally culpable. Nobody stole them from their beds while they slept and sold them into the intern trade. They went (and stayed) their of their own free will. If the internship sucked they should have left.
4) every single one of these interns was worthless and useless. every single p.a. and intern that worked this project will testify to that.
So let me get this straight. How can you believe this and still write what you wrote in #2? If they’re worthless and useless then why should the studios pay them?
Ehhh, the rise of internships is basically systemic exploitation. 30 years ago, did you do an internship before getting a job in the industry? No. You got a shit job in the industry, sure, but you got paid. The way the labor laws are set up, it’s complete idiocy to rely on free interns for any kind of labor – I’m surprised there haven’t been more of these lawsuits. Honestly, though, there’s no reason not to pay them minimum wage – these are kids who all have college degrees.
You and I both have worked with a lot of mental midgets in this business. But what I’m saying in this instance, is that these two were in fact worthless interns, and it really is a fact. That being said, if a must hire can get paid, or anyone in 52 for that matter, then every intern should be paid as a p.a. P.A’s are P.A.’s because you can fire them as I have unfortunately had to do. But I didn’t feel as bad firing a P.A. as I would have felt telling an intern not to return.
The saving grace is that now studio flicks will hire more P.A.’s but unfortunately it will be harder to find and vett new blood through the same process we went through. Oh well, I made it, and you can bet everything you got that it is a point of pride for me and I wouldn’t have done it any other way.
Maybe these interns should sue Phoenix Pictures (who produced Black Swan) too, because I’m pretty sure making unpaid interns that stay for months at a time and act as assistants is pretty illegal as well… lawsuit waiting to happen.
While it’s standard human behavior to expect others to go through the same crap you went through, it doesn’t make the system right. The unpaid internship is bullshit, pure and simple. It’s a way to take advantage of free labor because supply and demand is so out of whack.
I hope these interns get millions and the system changes. Can you imagine if Hollywood was even remotely a meritocracy? Yeah, fat chance of that.
I wouldn’t be where I am today if it hadn’t been for unpaid internships. Sure the producers get free labor, but the interns get a chance to prove themselves.
Now that I’ve made it through and have a career after years of hard work, I don’t look down at interns trying to break into the business, I see it more as the Darwinian way of weeding out the weak, privileged and entitled from those who are willing to prove their desire to be in a business that’s so hard to break into.
These interns took a leap of faith and dedicated themselves to these projects in order to pursue something that would give them an “in” and all they’ve managed to do is blackball themselves from the industry and destroy the chances of future interns to do the same and in return what do they get? Maybe a payout or maybe, hopefully, NOTHING BUT SHAME. I guarantee you that they either feel horrible about what they did or they are sociopaths.
Actually, only the privileged and entitled can even afford to TAKE unpaid internships in the first place. No one is denying that you need to do grunt work, defer to those senior than you and certainly get put in your place in order to survive in the Darwinian world of entertainment – but there’s no reason that multi-million and multi-billion dollar corporations can’t shell out $8.00 an hour to attract those who ARE willing to work hard and understand what a minimum wage job really means. If these interns weren’t expecting an “educational” experience for school credit as their employers have hammered into them to get the work for free, theyd have no leg to stand on.
You wouldn’t be where you are today only because the system forces you to go through that. It’s not a meritocracy. It’s virtually a closed system that forces you to know people and have connections BEFORE talent is considered. If the system were more of a meritocracy you wouldn’t have to do that. You’d break in because you were a talented writer, director, whatever. But it doesn’t work that way. Because connections are key, people will work for free getting coffee and answering phones in the mere hope that doing so will get them some connections. And Hollywood will happily lead them on and take the free labor.
I don’t expect the system to change, so to break in most people suck it up and go through it, and then some people like you convince yourself that the system SHOULD work that way. But it’s still bullshit. That’s where the true SHAME belongs.
To weed out the privileged and entitled, you say? Well, unpaid internships are definitely a great option for people who need to pay for their education. Cause all that pay they’re not getting can be put towards their schooling!
The internship system in Hollywood is out of control. These companies are breaking federal law on a regular basis. Interns as they were meant to be are great– learn a skill, meet people who are doing what you’re doing, and hopefully get hired. But these kids are being used as entry-level wage slaves for no pay. And that means that when they graduate they have nothing to move onto, just another illegal unpaid internship.
Sorry, but that’s ridiculous. I’m now a production coordinator, which means I’ve moved up the ranks from intern to PA to production secretary to APOC to POC. I worked hard to prove myself, but I’ve also seen PLENTY of nepotism hat put undeserving people in positions higher than myself along the way (and now that I’m a department head, I’ve had to employ various “must-hires” who were a million times less efficient than some of my better interns).
The whole labor system in the production world is antiquated, ridiculous, unfair, and based on the same nonsense: “But I had to do this!” Guess what? I did it and I wish it on nobody. Ever worked a 90 hour seven-day week without overtime on a $15 million movie? I sure have. Does that mean I think anyone else should ever have to do that? Absolutely not.
I don’t care about supply and demand. Labor is labor just like any other industry. It’s not free.
Good to see someone in the system that recognizes that change would be a good thing, and does not feel that everyone should suffer just because they did.
And an addendum… I was recently on a project where I wanted to give an intern a day of pay since he worked a Saturday and went way above and beyond.
My line producer told me she just “didn’t have it in the budget” and then proceeded to buy a $350 Cuisinart blender/juicer for the office (right out of my craft service budget). There were three weeks of wrap left so she essentially bought herself a little gift on the studio just because. The intern had been working for me since January and his day rate would have been $125.
The inequity is ridiculous.
I also would not be where I am today if I hadn’t interned. Where I am today is still in New York, with a lot of great connections having established myself at not one but several for-profit institutions who brought me on as an unpaid intern to “prove myself” but never really had a job for me at the end of the term. I interned for two years after college, trying to break in, going from internship to internship based on glowing recommendations but in the face of the struggling economy and job market. As long as unpaid internships are an accepted practice, companies in the entertainment industry will continue eliminating entry level jobs, and widening the gap between the haves and the have nots who are able to AFFORD breaking into the industry.
Where am I today? In debt. The entitlement claim is being argued incorrectly here… only the privileged have the means to work for free.
Hollywood a meritocracy? I am living proof that Hollywood is a meritocracy. For years I struggled to be noticed, to have ideas that mattered, to be taken seriously. I slaved away. I got coffee. I drove people around. I picked up dry cleaning. I had my ass handed to me because of typos, dropped calls, and scheduling snafus. And I LEARNED from every single fucking experience. It doesn’t come overnight, and it certainly doesn’t come until you’ve paid your dues, but if you work your ass off (and I mean really work your ass off), and if you’re smart (so many people claim to be smart, but Hollywood smart comes after years, if not decades of learning from those who came before you, and learning from your mistakes every single day, and not repeating those mistakes, and building relationships, and learning how to leverage those relationships… and myriad other intangibles that you can’t learn in college, but you can begin to learn by getting the CORRECT coffee for those who desire it THEIR WAY, because life is in the details…), then you can be successful. See, even getting coffee is an important of any production, and if you want to know how to run the show, then you have to know what everyone does (including the interns) and how they function within the system. So go ahead with this suit, and ruin it for the others who genuinely have a legitimate passion to create, tell stories, and use their ingenuity to earn a living. The smart, hard working people will continue to find ways to work around your sense of entitlement, and will succeed while you rise swiftly to middle management. It is the people willing to toil and put in the hours, and sweat about the little things, and are willing to make SACRIFICES that will continue to run the show. Good luck with your imminent obscurity, and when your grandchildren ask how you made your fortune, you can tell them that you weren’t tough enough to rise to the challenge, or that you didn’t have enough belief in your ability to succeed, so you decided to sue instead, and took the easy way out – because in that, there’s so much merit.
So, you LEARNED how to get coffee orders right? Your post reads as a lesson in the kinds of people who perpetuate this kind of exploitation, and the silly, self-indulgent, and self-aggrandizing attitudes that come with it. I worked as an intern, too. For an off-Broadway theater company. I learned a lot. Everything flowed from it. You know what? Even they could have afforded to pay minimum wage. The “no pay” pose is an affectation. There’s no excuse for it on a motion picture budget.
Oh, and you left a word out of one of your sentences: “See, even getting coffee is an important of any production…”. I guess you didn’t get your ass handed to you hard enough way back when. Now, Go to Jail. Go directly to Jail. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.
Why is a want to get paid as laid out by law a “sense of entitlement”? Don’t you think the law is there for a reason?
Just b/c it’s the film industry, that gives producers a “sense of entitlement” to break the law?
Who the hell do these producers and studio heads who authorize this think they are?
“John Galt?” As soon as I read that I knew what you were saying had its origins in bullshit.
Unpaid internship is a sensible middle ground between outright education — where the student has to actually pay money to get an education — and outright employment, where the employee has enough skills so that he can be paid for them. There’s nothing BS about it.
It doesn’t even matter if they perform few if any actual relevent tasks. If all they’re doing is picking up the culture, getting a chance to show it suits them, and even more importantly show others that they suit it, then the system is performing a valuable onboarding function for all concerned.
Now if they could show that none of the interns in these programs ever got industry jobs, they’d have something to complain about. But they wouldn’t have to, because people would stop doing it on their own.
This is the epitome of what is wrong with out country. These kids had a great opportunity, one that I myself was fortunate enough to go through, an internship to gain experience and help get me a job in an industry I wanted to be in. These kids knew exactly what they signed up for. They are entitled brats who are contributing to the over litigeous nature of our society. The only winner in this will be the attorneys. Good luck Searchlight.
Didn’t Fox Searchlight know that these children were special and unique snowflakes when they deemed Fox Searchlight worthy to intern for?
This comment doesn’t even make any sense. There’s no reason for debating the merits of the claimants as human beings here. They may be nice, they me be mean, they may be totally unremarkable. Doesn’t matter. They’re still legally required to be paid for certain kinds of work.
Yes, these interns knew they weren’t going to be paid, but it still doesn’t make Hollywood’s indentured servant program legit. Students and recent graduates don’t really know any better and if studio execs and their assistants were more honest about their actual “training,” they would volunteer their time for actual worthwhile causes. It’s incredibly frustrating when you stress out over coffee runs, don’t get a paycheck and then see your company spend ten thousand dollars on Christmas party gifts.
Indentured servant program? I’m sorry but if all you want to do is make money then you’ve got no business trying to break into film (I hear there are openings at the bank, or at daddy’s shoe store). Most people, such as myself, want to get into film because they have a desire to pursue something better for themselves and, yes, sometimes that means sacrifice. I lived on nothing for years and anytime someone took advantage of me I learned from it and never let it happen again. This is part of growing up. The problem is that some people don’t want to grow up. Since when is the world fair?
Sorry if everything didn’t unfold the way mommy told you it would when she dropped you off at film school. Maybe you’re really not as special as you think. Maybe you’re just a below-average, uninteresting person…
One thing I can guarantee you that if they had gotten on a job as a producer right after they interned they never would have brought any of this up. What does that tell you?
Please don’t put “jew” in your screen name and then give a snarky response. Your opinion is valid, but you delivered it in an unnecessarily antagonizing way, and we don’t need anymore bad PR.
“I’m sorry but if all you want to do is make money then you’ve got no business trying to break into film”
WTF are you talking about. Everyone needs to make a living. People get into the film business because we are sold as a society that we’re all going to be rock stars and movie stars and make millions.
Bottom line, people should be paid for the work that they do that brings millions to the big wigs.
Sounds like someone is bitter and unemployed
“It’s incredibly frustrating when you stress out over coffee runs, don’t get a paycheck and then see your company spend ten thousand dollars on Christmas party gifts.”
This is everything wrong with everyone born after 1985.
Ah, of course, because those people born before 1985 have done such a great job running things so far? Next.
“Students and recent graduates don’t really know any better”? Are you kidding me? How condescending.
I interned at SEVERAL studios and production companies in my late teens and early twenties, and it allowed me to have an invaluable network of industry professionals and an unquantifiable understadning of the business from the inside, thus when it came time for me to get myself a paying job, and not just a seasonal internship, I was prepared.
Unpaid internships build character, and they allow for more opportunities. If all internships were paid, there would be far fewer of them, and they would go to the connected and the highly qualified, as opposed to schlubs like me. Without my unpaid internships, it’s possible I would not now have a paid job.
And anyone who doesn’t “know any better” is a damn idiot.
The problem is that (in general) only people with wealthy parents are able to work these unpaid jobs. I know, I know. You were the one dirt-poor exception who worked three jobs while you interned and walked uphill both ways with no shoes on in the pouring rain. Spare me. I’ve done PLENTY of internships to get where I am, and the VAST majority of the other interns did not care that they were not being paid because they were from rich families to begin with.
I totally agree with the interns and hope they get what is legally and rightfully theirs. When I was an intern at Google I was paid and nicely.if they can play by the rules then studios can.
You are a total idiot, sadly probably quite representitive of your generation. You are not “indentured” unless you can’t leave. If coffee runs “stress you out” as an intern as others get lavish gifts, quit. Life and the world are not fair, at least by your childish definition. And showbusiness is so beyond not fair as to be essentially arbitrary in it’s rewards, and punishments. Can’t deal? Leave.
Didn’t we do this argument a year ago? Free internships mean that people who have to work to live (the poor) are kept out of the hollywood system, and those who can rely on their parents money can make inroads. This works to keep hollywood white and privileged; it’s hard to find a hispanic on some sets who isn’t on the catering truck. Real talk.
yes, this is absolutely true.
The ugly truth nobody wants to admit. Unpaid internships are a way to make sure the industry stays (largely) an incestuous family business.
Supply and demand, if not tampered with by outside forces, are by defintion always “in whack”. If the supply of idiots wishing to work for free getting coffee and lunch for the dream of being Speilberg or Rudin continues, then it will meet it’s demand point. Econ 101 my friend.
And that is why society puts laws into effect to protect the most vulnerable. There had been a supply of children willing to work in factories and coal mines for centuries before society decided that was wrong and made it illegal.
Likewise, people doing unpaid office work like industry interns do, taking jobs away from legitimate employees, IS ILLEGAL NOW, it’s just that the law is not enforced in any way.
The lesson here is that women named “Eden” and “Kanene” are a must to avoid in all circumstances and contexts.
Pathetic. The kids weren’t given a chance to run Fox by the time they were 25 and instead had to fetch coffee and make xeroxes. Maybe they should have let them direct. The sense of entitlement is unbelievable and then to turn around and sue and ruin an opportunity for the next generation of interns who may actually want the experience of learning about production from the inside and out and networking and paying their dues. I hope like hell the studio doesn’t settle and sees this to end and leaves these idiots with a mountain of debt that they have to pay off to their goldigging attorneys. Could you imagine how these idiots would have fared under Zanuck…either of them.
Daryl Zanuck made his son Richard studio president. Zanuck junior never had to work as an intern he was the golden boy who got it all by the time he was 25 until his old man fired him for losing too much money on bad film choices. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a father who runs a major studio. Next time don’t use Zanuck as an example you moron.
In today’s society, it is very difficult to survive without some form of compensation. In my opinion, anything is better than nothing at all. I firmly believe–and have seen–people work harder, are more dedicated, and appear to be more proactive when they are receiving some kind of compensation for their tireless efforts and long hours day in and day out. Interns and PAs are the first to arrive and many times the last to leave. While such positions could be and should be an impeccable opportunity to learn so much from as many people as possible, most of the tasks you are required to perform are unfulfilling and underappreciated, not to mention you aren’t learning a whole lot grabbing execs coffe, doing lunch runs and taking out the trash.
This brings me back to my original point–something is better than nothing at all. If other industries in this crazy world we live in can afford to pay their interns, so can $15 million dollar productions who pay their executive producers and talent millions for hours on set that are far less than those who are doing a lot of hard work.
I get it–pay your dues. But in a society where living expenses in Hollywood are through the roof, something is always better than nothing at all.
They are rightfully owed back wages. Fox changed their policy to pay these interns so I don’t see what the problem is. Did any of you actually read the judge’s order? Here’s what it says:
“In or around July 2010, Fox Entertainment Group changed its policy to require all interns to be paid approximately $8/hour beginning in fall 2010.”
This means that every unpaid intern is owed money for work they did. Hopefully the state legislature will outlaw all unpaid internships. They definitely deserve to be paid minimum wage for the work they do.
Those dumbass interns must not have learned about the studio/production company blacklists while interning on Black Swan. They clearly should have filed their claim as John Doe 1, John Doe 2, etc.
There is a difficult balance here. making money in the film industry is not a walk in the park …
many small companies (and even the large studios) offer internships not to save money but to create opportunities. we have anything from 3 to 6 interns in our office at any one time. they don’t replace other hires nor do they carry out assistant work. it actually costs us to provide these positions and if we had to pay we would likely have no more than 1 or 2 if any. the program really doesn’t add much to our productivity and in fact takes executives away to do training … something we are pretty committed to do but which we do not have the budget to do if we needed to pay to actually train people
on the other hand we are not blind to a number in the industry who do take on interns instead of hiring staff they need for their biz .. i truly believe that is the minority and that in my experience the major studios, in the main, do exactly what we set out to do – help train and create opportunities for students and recent graduates who would otherwise not get the training or opportunity
Hmm… Interesting. Not my experience at all. I interned at multiple companies before getting a job and have seen interns at various other companies. None of them received any training that cost the companies a dime. They were all used to do low-level office work that would have otherwise been done by paid employees. They did it, and I did it, because it was how one enters the industry. I’m not complaining about it. But I will say it’s not like your experience, and it doesn’t sound like it follows the intent of the law, even if maybe it follows the letter.
Um, boo freaking hoo. These interns’ parents probably raised them to think that they were the best at everything and that they don’t have to pay dues. Welcome to the entertainment business. We all worked or work for free to make our dreams come true…this includes drycleaning, coffee, taking animals to the vet, taking cars to get fixed, picking up lunch, picking up prescriptions. You name it, you’re gonna have to do it.
That said, I do believe that many paid assistant and coordinator positions have gone internship in order to save money, and I do not agree with that.
You’re joking, right? The vast majority of interns ARE the kids raised to think they’re better than everything, because they have the rich parents who can support them while they work for no pay.
Glatt was a 45 year old looking to make a career change and he talked Footman into this. They both were worthless to this production.
These are not the people who deserve money. They are entitled pricks who lack the work ethic to succeed in this business. If the other interns from Black Swan are brought into this suit, these two dolts will be revealed as lazy morons who were given mundane tasks because they lacked the wherewithal to handle anything more complex than filling out a lunch order form.
Some interns don’t make, some persevere, and some get lucky. These guys are just looking for a trophy they think they deserve. They’ll only get money because of a settlement to end this. But if others testify, it won’t be good for them.
Thank the maker for these kids and their fight. Hollywood should include people whose parents can’t fund them through their twenties (i.e. almost everyone). (All they’re asking for is $64 a day. You’re objecting to that? Really!?)
I started my career with an unpaid internship at a studio and it was the greatest entree into the business anyone could ask for. There were some interns who scoffed at photocopying or getting coffee. They fell away and were never heard from again. I learned a huge amount and was groomed for my first job. What’s a real shame is that internship programs are going to shrink after this, or disappear altogether, robbing thousands of young people the opportunity to get their foot in the door.
I dunno, I think a PAID internship would be the greatest entree anyone could ask for. So you succeeded by this route. Great. Doesn’t mean it’s fair. Doctors all go through a grueling period working days on end till they’re exhausted zombies, and then force young doctors to go through it for revenge. Doesn’t make that right either.
Nothing legitimate will shrink, the jobs that need to be done will still have to be done. Only people will be paid for them. If only half as many people get in, that’s great. How many companies have we all seen with armies of interns working for free, only 1/3 of whom ever get a chance to do anything worthwhile. If anything, this would weed out the unmotivated loafers.
They are trying to change the system, and using the justice system to do it. Good for them. These kids might actually force moguls to pay up. And in the process open the doors for income and racial diversity in crewing. Much needed. All of you who spent all that time working for free—wouldn’t you rather have been paid? At least minimum wage? I mean…really.
Exactly. I am interning right now and am the only kid driving a car made before 2000. The system prevents real people from entering the film market. I have a wealthy relative willing to pay for me to do this and without them there is no way I would be here. I look at my friends from home and know none of them could break into the film industry because of this system. This severely limits the perspective in hollywood.