A longtime and beloved studio grip died early Saturday in a automotive accident after pulling a 14-hour in a single day shift on the TV collection “9-1-1.”
Rico Priem, 66, who labored on productions together with “Six Toes Beneath,” “Deadwood” and “American Historical past X,” was driving residence from the Pomona set of “9-1-1” when he was concerned in a single-vehicle crash at about 4:30 a.m. California Freeway Patrol officers mentioned his automotive left the freeway, traveled up an embankment, then flipped the wrong way up on the highway. Officers mentioned the investigation was ongoing, however police on the scene mentioned alcohol was a “suspected issue.”
The dying prompted lots of Priem’s colleagues, alongside along with his union, IATSE Native 80, to name for safer working circumstances for film and tv crews, noting that driving residence after all-night shifts is each harmful and a routine a part of the job.
“Staff have an affordable expectation that they will get to work and are available residence safely. Nobody ought to be put in unsafe circumstances whereas attempting to earn a dwelling,” IATSE mentioned in an announcement.
Priem’s colleagues, in the meantime, took to social media to recollect Priem as a heat, fun-loving and expert crew member, and to precise their grief and their anger.
“We’ve got to make our business higher and safer,” one man wrote on Fb.
Nina Moskol, additionally a grip on “9-1-1,” which airs on ABC, wrote on Fb that she had labored with Priem within the days earlier than his dying, and that he had advised her he was on the point of retire and searching ahead to spending extra time along with his spouse and his grandnephew.
She referred to as Priem’s dying a “traumatic loss” and cited grueling work schedules whereas urging her fellow crew members to drive safely, and to just accept resort rooms in the event that they felt drained relatively than speeding residence.
IATSE is at the moment in contract negotiations with studios, and dealing circumstances and lengthy shifts are among the many points being mentioned.
In an announcement, twentieth Century Tv mentioned: ”On behalf of the studio and everybody at 9-1-1, we ship our honest and deepest condolences to Rico Priem’s household and buddies.”
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