I have heard of people dying on set and during the various stages in the productions of films and TV episodes. Dying while doing your seemingly safe job is a scary prospect, and while this type of death seems pretty rare, I cannot forget that Midnight Rider crewmember Sarah Jones died just this year while shooting in Georgia.
Although Jones did not die due to a helicopter accident, Deadline reports that “helicopter “crashes have taken the most lives on TV and film sets.”
Deadline also offered these figures:
Since 1980, 33 film and TV workers — nearly one a year — have been killed in helicopter accidents around the world, 14 in the U.S. and 15 more for American companies shooting abroad.”
I understand that helicopters are necessary for certain shots and effects, but after reading about how these past tragedies came to occur, it appears to me that most were the results of bad planning and negligence.
It’s such a shame that this is the case, and I hope that the industry will take note that putting crewmembers’ lives in danger is not okay. Although a certain level of intrigue surrounds projects that people died making, I think the majority of audiences are turned off from the bad vibes. A film just isn’t worth it, and it seems in bad taste to enjoy anything that directly ended a life.
Here’s an ironic and sad digression: James Cameron’s cinematographer and an Australian TV writer-producer were killed during the filming of Cameron’s DeepSea Challenge 3-D. The tagline for the project (before the men were killed) was as follows:
The epic adventure of James Cameron’s dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench is coming to a theater near you in 2014. What would you be willing to risk to follow your dream? James Cameron was willing to risk it all.
Gosh. Note to self: No helicopter rides for the sake of a shot. Ever.
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