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 Ft Below,” “Deadwood” and “American Historical past X,” was driving house 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 street. Officers mentioned the investigation was ongoing, however police on the scene mentioned alcohol was a “suspected issue.”
The loss of life prompted lots of Priem’s colleagues, alongside together with his union, IATSE Native 80, to name for safer working situations for film and tv crews, noting that driving house after all-night shifts is each harmful and a routine a part of the job.
“Staff have an inexpensive expectation that they will get to work and are available house safely. Nobody ought to be put in unsafe circumstances whereas making an attempt to earn a residing,” IATSE mentioned in a press release.
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.
“Now we have 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 loss of life, and that he had instructed her he was on the point of retire and searching ahead to spending extra time together with his spouse and his grandnephew.
She referred to as Priem’s loss of life a “traumatic loss” and cited grueling work schedules whereas urging her fellow crew members to drive safely, and to simply accept lodge rooms in the event that they felt drained relatively than speeding house.
IATSE is at present in contract negotiations with studios, and dealing situations and lengthy shifts are among the many points being mentioned.
In a press release, 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 mates.”
