A Film Slate
Starting in February 2014 there was a name that started to appear on slates across the film and television industry. From indie films to big budget studio films. From commercials to the most popular TV shows. This one name appeared on slates everywhere and for good reason. This name was Sarah Jones.
Transcript:
“Quiet on the set”. Whether you’ve ever been on a television or film set, or watched behind the scenes footage, or even seen anything fact or fictional about tv and film production, you’ve heard that phrase before. You’ve probably heard another as well, “lights, camera, action”. But what this phrase leaves out is a very important technical step. Between the words “camera” and “action”, during that moment of silence, a vital thing must take place. A member of the camera department, usually the 2nd Assistant Camera, also known as the 2nd AC, steps in front of the lens and holds up what is called a slate. You’ve probably seen one before. Sometimes it's called a clapper or clapboard because of the motion and sound it makes as the arm is closed down on top of the rest of it. The point of the clapping is to help editors align the film clip with the separate audio recording. The slate also hosts some other vital information for the production and that particular shot. Written on the slate are the scene and take numbers. It also includes the date, the title of the production and the company producing it. But, most importantly, there are a couple significant names and those are of the cameraman and the Director.
That is a lot to take in and may not seem all that interesting. But I tell you all that to tell you this. Starting in February 2014 there was another name that started to appear on slates across the film and television industry. From indie films to big budget studio films. From commercials to the most popular TV shows. This one name appeared on slates everywhere and for good reason.
Surely someone whose name appears on a film slate must be of great importance. Besides the countless crew on set, people in post production, heads of studios and beyond, they all saw this name on every slate before every take, before every shot on their productions. And sure, her name wasn’t on every single one world wide, but if it was a union based camera crew there was a very good chance you’d see the name “Sarah Jones” somewhere on that slate.
So who is Sarah Jones and how did her name suddenly take over not just Hollywood but the production industry as a whole?
Her career got started in Charleston, South Carolina shortly after she graduated from College there. She began interning on the show “Army Wives” which filmed in the city and it’s nearby air force base. Soon after Sarah moved to Atlanta, Georgia which had grown into a major hub for television and film production on the East Coast.
As Sarah’s career progressed she became more involved with the camera department and joined the union, local 600. And despite the grueling long days that can strain the body physically as well as mentally, Sarah was known by those she worked with for her upbeat and positive attitude. She was making an impression and was making her way in a business that can chew you up and spit you out if you’re not careful.
Then Sarah was given a job in the camera department on a new indie biopic about the Allman Brothers. It was day one of filming and the crew was at an old railroad trestle spanning the Altamaha River in southeastern Georgia. They were supposed to be filming a dream sequence which involved an actor in a hospital bed out on the railroad tracks. After filming a few shots off of the trestle the crew was instructed to move equipment about 100 to 150 feet out on the trestle itself. Seeing no reason not to and with no other options, the crew positioned the prop bed and camera rigging out onto the tracks, 25-30 feet above the rushing river below.
And that is where they were on February 20th, 2014 when a train approached the trestle from the south at approximately 58 miles per hour. When a crew member had asked earlier how much time they would have to get off the trestle should a train come, they were told about a minute. In reality it was much less.
The crew attempted to get everything off the narrow tracks before the train reached them. They just about had it cleared, but the hospital bed had started to fall apart and was turned perpendicular to the tracks, leaving one edge jutting out just a little too far. And as the train sped by it hit the corner of the bed caused it to rotate. Standing nearby, doing her best to shy away from the rushing engine, the spinning bed hit Sarah, causing her to fall forward, towards the train.
Sarah Jones lost her life that day and seven other crew members were injured in the incident. She was 27 years old.
A lot had to be ignored to get the crew on the tracks that day. A lot of people had to disregard their duties to protect and ensure the safety of the crew around them. From the sheer lack of safety measures and instructions in place on and prior to the day of filming. Like double checking the train schedule since sometimes schedules change. To those that asked for permission to film on the trestle and were repeatedly denied. And then those same people deciding to do it anyway and not tell anyone. So much could have and should have been done differently, but it wasn’t.
As word quickly spread about the utterly tragic events that cost Sarah her life, so too did the details that led to it. Friends and crew she worked with expressed their sadness but also their frustration at the circumstances. So in the days that followed, camera crews industry wide started to publicly mourn the loss of one of their own. Phrases like “In Memory of Sarah Jones”, “RIP Sarah Jones”, and “For Sarah Jones”, started to appear on film slates. Not just for one shot, but day after day, month after month. Productions would post pictures of their slates to the newly established, and appropriately named, “Slates for Sarah” Facebook page.
But they didn’t want to just remember Sarah, they wanted change. They wanted to make sure this never happened to anyone ever again. And so Slates for Sarah became Safety for Sarah as part of a much larger movement to improve safety in the film and television industry. Her name on those slates is a reminder before every shot, no matter what, safety must come first. No frame of film is worth risking a life for.
In the years that followed her parents pushed the “Safety for Sarah'' campaign with support from the cinematographers’ union, and others industry wide. And as a result, new safety guides were put out with a wealth of resources on how to keep a production safe or how to report a situation that you’re not comfortable with. Phone apps have been created as a hub for safety announcements, bulletins and again, to report any unsafe situations. The message being, if you see something, say something.
And now, over eight years later, you still see Sarah’s name on film slates. She’s not a big time producer or director. She’s not the star of the show, but this 27 year old 2nd AC made a lasting impact on a multibillion dollar industry. She taught all those working those long hours, day after day, week after week with no sleep, a lesson they should not soon forget. Before the scene can start, before the director can call action, there is a moment of silence and there is Sarah, reminding everyone that it is the people that make the movies, not the movies that make the people.
Today’s episode was written by me, Cory Greiner. Keepsake is produced and edited by Alex Hoelscher. If you have an idea you’d like us to explore on the show, send us an email at keepsakepod@gmail.com.
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And finally, next episode’s item, A Slice of Bread
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