Working With Trains

There was a tragedy here in Georgia last month – a production company was filming on a railroad bridge when a train came through killing a 27-year-old camera assistant. The Hollywood Reporter has a look at what happened – and what went very, very wrong.

From the story:

CSX, the Florida-based railway company that owns the tracks, easement and trestle where Jones died, told the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office in the early hours of the investigation that it never granted Midnight Rider’s producers permission to film on the tracks in the first place.

“According to the CSX employee,” Sgt. Ben Robertson wrote in a report obtained by the media, “the production company had previously been denied permission to film on the trestle, and there was electronic correspondence to verify that fact.” Robertson’s report noted that a member of Miller’s crew, when asked whether permission was granted, replied, “It’s complicated.”

It’s not that complicated – if you’re trespassing, if you haven’t controlled every situation, you are responsible for what happens.

Making images on train tracks has been a rage for a long time – it has to stop. Same for movies and videos.