As an author and screenplay writer, as well as a producer, being in the Entertainment Industry, I cannot overlook nor ignore what happened on the movie set with Alec Baldwin. I can only offer my deepest condolences to the family of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, and wish a speedy recovery to the director Joel Souza.
With our pilot, we have several Civil War battle scenes that require the use of muskets, revolvers, cannons and other period correct weaponry.
The use of gun safety cannot be expressed enough. But no shot is worth standing in front of a weapon, loaded or with blanks. “What if there is a real bullet in the chamber?, ” would be my question. I do not understand why two professionals would trust that there wasn’t. It was reported that Alec Baldwin did not “test fire” the weapon for himself. It was also reported that there were safety issues on set with crew walking off the project. THAT WAS A VERY BIG RED FLAG!
A red flag at the beach means, “high hazard meaning high surf and/or strong currents.” In other words, don’t swim or you could drown! If people were walking off the job due to safety issues, the project should have been halted then, to fix what ever those issues were. Perhaps Halyna would still be alive. But she made the fatal mistake of standing in front of where Alec was shooting, to get that perfect shot; the cinematic effect and view of having a bullet flying through the air . We will have this in one of our episodes. Many people are not addressing where she and the director were standing. On most movie sets, it is the director who is in charge. (But Alec as the Executive Producer had a high level of responsibility and authority as well). So, why the hell did he or Joel allow Halyna to be in the line of fire? Why did she listen? Why the hell was the director also standing behind her, in the line of fire, in case something went wrong? We cannot just look at Alec. It is fact that a lot went wrong, and what happened is tragic and should have been avoided.
This has prompted me to become more aware of gun safety. I do not own a gun. I don’t touch them because they scare me. But, that isn’t an excuse not to enroll in classes about gun safety or learn how to use a firearm. Also, I am sure there are safely classes in regard to weapons on set. With hundreds of reenactors on set during these battle scenes, it will be imperative that we make sure everyone is safe, including all cast and crew. We will have experts on hand at all times!
THE MEMOIRS OF SUMMER RAY 