"Evan" wrote in message
...
On Feb 10, 7:32 pm, "Robert Green" wrote:

stuff snipped

@Robert Green:

A child actor needs to be supervised at all times by a parent
or legal guardian while working in the media industry and MUST
also attend school on set during down time...

At all times means the parent or legal guardian must be
present at the work location and be supervising and
monitoring the activities of the child and everything that
child is doing...

It is not like a parent drops a child actor off at the set and
comes back to pick them up hours later...

This is why young children are allowed to work in the
entertainment media industry, their parent/guardian
is supposed to be there and looking out for their
safety at all times...

That's what's *supposed* to happen. Read through Paul Petersen's site to
discover what actually DOES happen.

http://www.minorcon.org/

Even if all the "accomodations" you've listed were actually honored, the
bottom line is that child actors are often poorly socialized and unfit for
any *normal* career once their star stops shining. The story of TV's Dennis
the Menace, Jay North, is particularly disturbing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_North

We all know how child star Michael Jackson ended up. Kids become child
stars because their parents pushed them into it, and they usually pushed
them pretty hard. I call that exploitation and no amount of assurances that
the child is under constant, caring supervision could change my mind. You
don't really think little Jon Benet Ramsay woke up one day and decided she
wanted to compete in child beauty pagents? Or murdered by some scuzzball
who liked seeing little girls in lipstick.

I would say that the *real* reason that Hollywood gets a huge exemption from
the childhood labor laws is that there's an enormous amount of money to be
made. Often, the child sees very little of it. But producers make millions
from films like "Home Alone." Money talks and Hollywood's got dump trucks
full of it. And that's why they're exempt from the laws of the land. They
bought the lawmakers.

I hope Mr. Petersen doesn't mind my more than fair use copying of his
article, but here's how it works in the real world, from someone who's
walked the walk:

As with any system and any institution, the cracks began to appear as the
whole system matured. People (studios, new teachers, stage-parents and the
Industry generally) learned to manipulate the System. . . Over the next
twenty years the system degenerated to such an extent that the LAUSD threw
in the towel. It's teachers had been compromised, the rules were routinely
disregarded (violations were just never reported) and frankly, those folks
down on Grand Avenue in Los Angeles Unified headquarters had had enough.
Teacher credentialling was shifted over to the Labor Department which knew
nothing about teachers, let alone the movie business. The deterioration of
the Studio Teacher's union (Local 884) began at this point in time . . . In
1986 the "Twilight Zone" tragedy illuminated just how far we'd slipped. With
everyone turning the other way, two immigrant children where hired
illegally, made to work illegal hours (kids can't work past 12:30am) amidst
explosions and directly beneath a helicopter. When the choppers tail rotor
was blasted off because it dropped too low, the copter dropped down on Vic
Morrow and decapitated not only Vic but the two children he was carrying.
Incidentally, but for the minor guilty verdicts of no work permits and
illegal hours, no one was found guilty of anything substantial. Steven
Spielberg went on with his life and career. John Landis paid a minor fine
and went on directing.

But the two people who testified for the prosecution, the helicopter pilot
and the special effects man, have not worked since! Hollywood is a tough
town. Blacklisting is as real now as it was in the 50's ... **only this time
it is the liberal left doing the Blacklisting and acting holier than thou.**
(emphasis mine) The sole changes to the law that matter is that kids can no
longer work around whirling helicopter blades. How lame!

Source: http://www.minorcon.org/failingsystem.html

That's the real world, Evan, not the fairy-tale that Hollywood has created
to justify child exploitation.

--

Bobby G.