Alec Baldwin gun incident: How weapons are handled on film sets

Brut America

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died after Alec Baldwin discharged a prop gun on set. Her death raises many questions about gun safety in the film industry.   Experts say the fatal accident could have been avoided...

Transcript

00:00What happened was that someone had this in the gun instead of having this in the gun,

00:09which is a blank bullet with a projectile, blank with no projectile.

00:15There's no reason why a simulated firearm or that a simulated firearm should be pointed

00:33at any person in a room at any time.

00:35This was a totally avoidable incident and should never happen again.

00:42When they say prop gun, what they really are not really properly naming it is it's not

00:55it was not a prop gun.

00:57It was literally a real gun with blanks in it.

01:24The difference between a blank and an actual bullet is that a blank isn't a projectile,

01:31but it still creates combustion, which is why you have the sound, but there is still

01:37a lot of force.

01:58When you go on a set, the last five I've been on where I was a cop or a cowboy, they check

02:05your guns, the armorer.

02:07That's their job to make sure that you get the gun for the scene.

02:10When you're using a firearm on a set as an actor, what should happen is a prop master

02:16that really there are very few people who can come in contact with the weapon.

02:20And that's a rule.

02:21They start with a safety meeting for the entire crew whenever you're going to do any sort

02:25of stunt, but also specifically like with a firearm.

02:28And then when they bring it to you, only you and the prop master, the ones who handle it,

02:33they open it up and then you hold on to it and you don't touch it unless you're in the

02:36scene using it.

02:38Once the simulated firearm is out of its lockbox in the space, it's announced that it is there.

02:45It is also announced whether or not it is charged, which means that it does or does

02:51not have blanks in it.

02:53And then it is known to the entire cast and crew or taught ahead of time that only the

03:01people who are in that type of choreography, they're the only ones who are allowed to touch

03:06it at any point in time.

03:09And the people who are instructed to or are a part of that combat are told not to point

03:16it at anyone at any time unless it is in choreographed combat.

03:31You want to have, you know, people who are in the union who know all the protocols and

03:51who are following all the protocols rather than somebody who isn't as experienced, hasn't

03:57done this on a set and doesn't follow the rules that are guidelines for everybody's

04:02safety.

04:03And, you know, it can come down to budget to hire those more expensive people with that

04:07experience. But I think if you're doing something with a weapon, that's a priority.

04:28Twenty seven year old Brandon Lee was killed during a movie set accident today.

04:33He was filming the scene for the movie The Crow when he was hit by a projectile fired

04:38from a gun loaded with blanks.

04:57Technology, as it is now, you know, I don't know that it's necessary to have blanks when

05:05you have a visual effects budget, you can do that and get the same effect and have zero

05:10risk of something going wrong.

05:12Seeing something of this scale and proportion that's so unnecessary and could have been

05:17avoided is just tragic on so many levels.

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