Friday, October 18, 2013

Four For Friday - Child Slaves That Hollywood Hushes Up

Announcement time. Huh. Hmm. Yeah. Not much to say really. It is Friday. Oh, I ate all the Halloween candy. Four bags over the past five days. Need to buy some more. The good stuff never goes on sale after Halloween because they just throw it in the Christmas section. I will be here all weekend with reveals and blinds and any breaking news. I'm on the Twitter thing if anyone wants to follow me. I am @entylawyer

This week is not a traditional blind. I will give you a person but it is going to be hard. The reason I am writing it is not so much to out the one person I discuss but to tell you that Hollywood knows this happens and just because you have a bunch of people who claim they care about the world they really don't. Tell me the next time you see an actor walk away from a million dollar paycheck because their costume making was outsourced to child labor. Even if you told them to their face they would say they are just there to act. Huh. Then why do you have a producer credit? Why are you screwing over your union and pretending you are working for scale while that huge "producer" or consulting fee check that SAG can't touch gets deposited in your account. I have seen a President of SAG do that same trick. Didn't even blink. So why should they care about some child labor making their costumes?

If you are going to talk about costume designers today the first name you are going to mention is this woman. If she is not the first name out of your mouth, she is going to be in the top three. She has literally worked on the biggest movies on the planet designing thousands of costumes that all need to be made. The producers of the movies she has worked for made hundreds of millions of dollars on these productions and the actors in these films are the biggest stars on the planet.

This costume designer has all her garments made south of the border. All of them. Nothing here that she would be forced to pay scale wages on because the producers don't want that. They want cheap. If some kids get exploited in foreign countries so be it. In the last big budget movie she worked on which starred arguably the biggest actor in the world who was also a producer this designer paid each worker a flat fee of $700. That was for three months work. 16 hours a day. Do the math and it works out to about 48 cents an hour. No overtime. If you want a lunch you need to bring it. You only got the money after the three months were up. If you worked two months and got sick you got no money.

The movie has grossed just over $500M to date worldwide.

64 comments:

Shit You Can't Buy said...

Titanic or Star Wars?

Shit You Can't Buy said...

Nevermind, Star Wars was costumed by a dude.

Titanic was by Deborah Lynn Scott. She also worked on Avatar. It's her imo.

MontanaMarriott said...

Alexandra Byrne, Avengers, Thor,

VIPblonde said...

Mayes C. Rubeo. World War Z is at 540 mill worldwide

Shit You Can't Buy said...

Betch also won an Oscar for it..

Katie said...

Patricia Field is the only costume designer that comes to mind but her biggest thing is satc so I'm not sure

Shit You Can't Buy said...

Deborah I mean

VIPblonde said...

Mayes C. Rubeo's IMBD

MM said...

RDJ being "arguably the biggest actor in the world"?

KLM said...

Mayes C Rubeo, World War z

MISCH said...

And Pat Field uses vintage and ready made.....

But why stop here, what about all those fire trap factories in India and China...?

KLM said...

With Brad Pitt for the actor.

FrenchGirl said...

Enty, your clothes probably are from Bangladesh fabric and your NIKE sneakers from China so please...

La Minette Grincheuse said...

I'm gonna go historical and say this is Edith Head.

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0372128/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

StewMcG said...

I'm agreeing with VIP and here's a link to an article about how she used a crew of 70 Mexicans to make costumes for one of her project: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/123-film/2010/11/02/guest-mayes-c-rubeo--costume-designer--avatar

Cory said...

Apparently Brad and Angie aren't looking to save the kids in Mexico. You would think he knew what was happening or would make it right when he found out. If it got out it would really hurt their reputations.

sandybrook said...

You know I may be completely wrong about this but doesn't the executive producer produce a budget for a movie in order to get financing for it, then hires the people to work on the movie and within the budget he sets for them to work with?

S said...

Great Gatsby (movie). Leo (biggest movie star). Catherine Martin designs (zillions of costumes). Small budget for a big scale pic.

marlolovespaty said...

Colleen Atwood

marlolovespaty said...

Colleen Atwood

VIPblonde said...

And since it's FFF, and Brad was a producer on WWZ, here's Brad Pitt's peen

Unknown said...

I also thought Edith Head, but I suspect Enty of the Day would have said Old Hollywood.

KLM said...

@ VIP - lol... And I am super-annoyed you posted before me. :)

Tara said...

It has to realistically be a costume of a certain time period or of a certain science-fiction uniform. Most movies will buy/have clothes donated and only make certain pieces they need (I worked on a Colin Farrell movie that was moderately low-budget and we bought everything except for a few hand-made dresses for Noomi Rapace). This had to be something like Avatar, Star Trek, etc. Mayes is from Mexico and her work reflects the need for many, many custom-made period/locale pieces.

Kelly said...

Wow @VIP I had forgotten how purdy he used to be.
Also, that is not the actions of a dead fish in these pics (Goop)

Brian Brown said...

just because you have a bunch of people who claim they care about the world they really don't

Yes, modern liberals are laughably hypocritical. It is all just feel-good emoting.

Sugar said...

I'd totally do horrible nasty things to Brad Pitt in his Gwyneth days. Then current Angelina Brad, not so much.

Tara said...

I'd also rule out the Avengers movies because Alexandra Byrne does a lot of period movies with very ornate costumes. I feel like WWZ needed a lot if distressed clothing which is super easy to have done unsupervised.

di butler said...

I knew it was gonna be her, way to bring it, VIP! Yes, the sanctimony would choke lesser mortals, but Hollywood "morals" are an ever shifting, amorphous thing.

LottaColada said...

@VIP Is that Goopy's ass?

FrenchGirl said...

@SandyBrook: yes,it's true


Habibti said...

$700 a month is a huge salary south of the border when converted to their currency. Not exactly slavery. They can live very comfortable with that amount.

KLM said...

No Karen, it was $700 for three months, and that is not a living wage (or even the realm of a living wage).

Eros said...

I immediately thought world war z. I think it fits.

SingBlue said...

@Karen, the $700 was a flat fee for the 3 months work.

amused bush said...

So, essentially the producers of the movie are doing what most multi-national companies do...utilization of cheap labor. Maybe I'm just too cynical, maybe I've been working in product for too long, but I'm not surprised in the least.

Like marlo, I was thinking Colleen Atwood, but Snow White only grossed about 400 mil and Alice in Wonderland did over a billion worldwide. So I'll go with VIP and Mayes Rubeo.

Eros said...

In Brad Pitts defense, i think he might be a grower.

That pic of gwenneth is unflattering. Look like she needs a little pilates. Shes thin but her body doesnt look strong and theres some flaccidity in her limbs, ass. Thats all i was able to glean from a cursory glance tho. :)

Unknown said...

Mayes Castarillo de Rubeo

CJ said...

Ngila Dickinson? Designed costumes for Lord of the Rings (and won the Oscar for it), did costumes for Sean Parker's wedding, and a bunch of other ones, including The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise.

Seven of Eleven said...

@V, my thoughts exactly. The "child slaves" headline is misleading, as if Hollywood is the only industry employing cut-rate labor and exploiting workers (or they should be "above" it?).

Oh look, it's Jay!

VIPblonde said...

@Lotta Yep! Goopy ass and side boob!

lazyday603 said...

This is cool. We get to smear the reputation of every prominent costume designer in Hollywood. This all started with that bitch Edith Head.

Anonymous said...

S: yeah I thought of Baz's Missus as well.

Anonymous said...

*steps on soap box* ignorance is no excuse. Research and buy ethically (where possible).

Tammy said...

It's no doubt exploitative, and they damn sure ought to pay them weekly, but our church missionaries who work in Mexico and Guatemala say that adults there work for far less than a dollar a day. So 48 cents an hour is probably a lot, depending on where they are. ( And I have to bring my lunch to work, so I don't see the big deal there, either, it certainly wouldn't kill them to provide food)

jp said...

Is this the same Jay from Wisconsin who is obsessed with Michelle Obama's butt?

8====D KermitGossnellKnobjob said...

Do you know that Nike (for instance) "slave workers" in Bangladesh (and a lot of "third world countries) earn three times as much salary as their counterparts in local industries in the same sector?
American (and European or Japanese) industries shouldn't put their factories there because they are a piece of cake for workers who should keep waiting for our hand out. We win twice: first they keep being poor, second we feel better giving them a couple of bucks. And fuck them.

Unknown said...

@Jay As opposed to conservatives who don't even pretend to give a shit about anyone but themselves?

Essie said...

And, the problem is what exactly? Almost every citizen of the United States of American wears clothes made by child labor. None of us can get all high and mighty about it. And, besides, NOBODY CARES!!

Hollywood is a BUSINESS and they need to make money. And 48cents an hour is a lot of money to the people in these dirt poor countries and it feeds their families.

Angelina said...

It probably is Mayes Rubio, but what about Milena Canonero? Three-time oscar winner, has worked on the biggest grossing films....

Desiree said...

Not that it's right, but what is she doing that's so different than ALL major corporations?

Most corporations have moved their factories overseas for THAT EXACT REASON!

Sis said...

Whoo Hoo VIP...how I miss FFF !!!

MrWolf said...

Arguably the biggest movie star and also the producer - That means Brad Pitt.

This is the costume designer from World War Z obviously.

Anonymous said...

Battered sav and 2 dim sims anyone?

Anonymous said...

*high fives iceberg* exactly!

Anonymous said...

Essie : really? You're not holding a mirror up to society with that comment? You're serious?

PS said...

Penny Rose; all Pirates movies and Lone Ranger amongst many, many others (including Mission Impossible). Enty loves RDJ, who does so much for recovering addicts; he wouldn't throw him under Bus. On other hand, he'd back over Johnny D these days.

__-__=__ said...

If you can buy a 100 lb. bale of clothes from Dallas Goodwill why would movies and production companies pay to have clothes made. Seems there is already a better way. I wouldn't make anything from scratch, economically speaking.

Sherry said...

Looks like VIP nails it again. And for someone who is from MX to do that to people in her own country is deplorable. You'd think they would use their power to help but I guess not. Special spot in hell for them all.

AAAAND of course someone has to get all political and blame it on liberals/conservatives or whomever. You have zero idea what their political leanings are based on a blind that may or may not be true. You're an idiot. Sit down and shut the fuck up.

piglet said...

Pretty sure the costumes or Sean parkers wedding were sewn in nz, so not ngila.

Henriette said...

Brad Pitt comes to mind with WWZ because he and AngieJo are so into their child army and charities. It would be highly hypocritical for him to exploit kids in Mexico, and he was one of the main producers of the movie with his production company, Plan B Pictures.

Mari said...

Rach, I never buy clothes not made here/USA/Europe unless they're certified. The funny thing is companies dumped manufacturing to Chinese labour camps, still charge the same price! As if we're stupid. This is why no more Docs (etc) for me. I'd rather pay 100.00 for Second jeans made in Canada, they'll donate a pair to a girl in Africa too, than 150.00 for a pair made in China.

Anonymous said...

Mari: I love my docs too, but we now buy solovair boots & shoes because they're made in England in the old Dr Martens factory. Same quality & style of original DM's. check em out!

Anonymous said...

Mari, check out the website rad, ethical doc martens made in England

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