An unorthodox lawsuit filed by two unpaid interns on Fox Searchlight’s indie hit, "Black Swan," shines a spotlight on a common, but little-discussed reality in Hollywood: the use of free labor on movie productions.
From directors to gaffers, many in the movie business see unpaid internships as a necessary step to gaining experience and contacts in a cliquish entertainment industry.
But the lawsuit has ignited a virulent debate – including on TheWrap in dozens of comments on a story about the lawsuit – about whether unpaid internships have been taken too far and instead constitute rank exploitation.
“Just because everybody is doing it doesn’t mean that it’s right and it’s lawful,” Elizabeth Wagoner, an attorney for the “Black Swan” interns, told TheWrap. “Our goal is to expose the practice of employers profiting from unpaid labor.”
Also read: 'Black Swan' Sued for Using Unpaid Interns
Fox Searchlight maintains that the interns worked for the production company that made the film before the studio acquired the project.
“These individuals were never employed as interns or retained in any capacity by Fox Searchlight, which has a proud history of supporting and fostering productive internships,” the studio said in a statement. “We look forward to aggressively fighting these groundless, opportunistic accusations.”
Fox did not respond to Wrap requests to delineate their internship policy.
Many of the other Hollywood studios, such as Sony and Disney, do pay their interns, according to Wrap inquiries. Others, like Warner Bros., require that school credit be given in exchange for the work experience.
Howard Fabrick, a labor attorney at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Field, said that for their own sake, he counsels studios and his other clients against offering internships unless they recruit workers from colleges.
“Cheap labor is not an unknown motivating factor and there certainly are employers who take advantage of it,” Fabrick said. “Basically, though, these places should not get involved in not paying interns unless they're sponsored by an educational institution. Employers need a defense to protect themselves.”
The parameters at smaller production houses and media companies are looser, and many internships do not come with a paycheck or course credit.
In a down economy, the temptation to pad a smaller company’s workforce with unpaid labor may be leading some to exploit the internship process, Fabrick and others say.
“In today’s labor market, it’s tough to get jobs,” Fabrick said. “There’s not a lot of opportunities and people are just looking for some form of experience to put on their resumes.”
That doesn’t mean that unpaid internships aren’t valuable, industry observers and educational professionals argue.
“Most of the internships that are offered are non-paying, but most of them are very valuable to a person trying to break into the business,” Larry Auerbach, associate dean of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, told TheWrap.
