Hollywood Studios and Unions Nearing Compromise on Set Safety Law

Hollywood studios and entertainment unions are close to a compromise on a new California law to tighten set safety rules, which comes in response to the fatal Rust shooting.

The compromise would adopt the film industrys firearm safety rules, which are currently voluntary, into state law. It would also mandate specialized training for armorers and others who work with firearms on sets, according to sources familiar with the talks.

The two sides have been working for more than a year on the legislation following the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in New Mexico in October 2021.

Actor Alec Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed are each facing involuntary manslaughter charges for their roles in the accidental shooting.

Gutierrez Reed is accused of accidentally loading a live round into Baldwins gun, which was supposed to contain only dummy rounds. Baldwin was holding the gun when it fired he has denied pulling the trigger killing Hutchins and injuring the films director. Both he and Gutierrez Reed have pleaded not guilty.

There is currently no training requirement to work as a film armorer anywhere in the country. Gutierrez Reed was 24, and Rust was only her second job as an armorer. Multiple lawsuits have faulted her inexperience as a significant factor in the shooting.

Gutierrez Reed learned the job from her father, Thell Reed, and many other armorers learn the trade through informal apprenticeship, rather than formal training.

Last year, the unions and the studios backed two different versions of a law to respond to the shooting. The studios supported a narrower approach that focused on the issue of firearm safety, while the unions sought a broader bill that would have allowed a set safety supervisor to shut down productions for an array of hazardous conditions. That proved to be a deal-breaker for the studios.

The Legislature did not adopt either bill, as lawmakers encouraged the two sides to reach a compromise.

State Sen. Dave Cortese reintroduced a bill earlier this year and has continued to work to hammer out a deal. He is expected to unveil compromise language in time for a Senate Labor Committee hearing next Wednesday.

The bill is not expected to include a mandated safety supervisor with power to shut down sets.

Instead, the bill will set up a program to require safety adviser, but only on projects that are subsidized by the states tax credit for film and TV productions. The program would also call for a pre-production risk assessment to help identify hazardous conditions that may arise during filming.

The program is intended to test out the idea before mandating it industry-wide.