The Screen Actors Guild and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees shut down filming of “Spring Break '83” Friday evening.
Mike McHugh, IATSE business agent, said Big Sky Motion Pictures committed a breach of contract when it discovered the movie barely had a week's worth of payroll in its account. IATSE requires two weeks' worth of payroll to be in deposit.
The union learned of the breach of contract after several complaints from crew members and extras not being paid. When SAG shut down filming Friday evening, “we followed suit and did the same,” McHugh said.
“We told the crew we couldn't guarantee any payment past Thursday,” McHugh said.
Springfield resident Treyson Thedy said he has not been paid for 19 days of work. The young extra said he has worked in several films and television shows before and has always been paid within two weeks. As of Monday, Thedy has been waiting a month for his first week's payment of work.
“I call all the time and always get a different story,” Thedy said. “They said it's something to do with their accountant, but it's always a different story.”
Thedy said his two brothers and several friends have not been paid either.
Archie Trahan, production assistant, said he has not been paid one penny for two weeks of work. He said he should have known something was wrong when the film refused to give him a copy of his time sheet.
He thinks somewhere around 700 people are waiting for payment.
His fiancee, Sherry Richard, also worked two weeks as a production assistant, but has only received one week of pay.
“People work because they need money, not because it's fun to work on a movie set,” Richard said.
The movie was scheduled to finish filming Monday but was shut down in the process. The movie has been filming in the Tangipahoa and Livingston parishes area for several weeks, employing locals as extras and crew members.
Big Sky Motion Pictures could not be reached for comment.
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