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Business News Legal
Allman biopic director and producers charged with involuntary manslaughter
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 7 July 2014
The director and two producers of a biopic about singer songwriter Gregg Allman have been charged with involuntary manslaughter, following the death of a crew member that brought production to a halt earlier this year.
As previously reported, camera assistant Sarah Jones was killed while she and colleagues were setting up for the filming of a dream sequence on railway tracks in Doctortown, Georgia in February. The plan was for William Hurt, playing Allman, to lie on a bed on the middle of three tracks for the sequence, where in the film he would be passed either side by trains.
The crew had been told that no more trains would be using the tracks that day, but one then approached at speed while the scene was being set up, striking the bed, killing Jones and injuring several others. A police investigation found that the producers did not have proper permission to film on the tracks.
Following the incident, Hurt left the production and Allman launched legal action attempting to withdraw the film rights to his autobiography, ‘My Cross To Bear’, having previously appealed unsuccessfully to director Randall Miller to abandon the project entirely. Allman later dropped his lawsuit after reaching a settlement with production company, Unclaimed Freight Productions.
While all that was going on, prosecutors were still considering whether or not to bring charges following the investigation into the circumstances surrounding Jones’ death. And now that decision has been made, with Miller, along with producer Jody Savin and executive producer Jay Sedrish, being charged last week with involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass.
Prosecutors claim that the three men took the film crew onto the train tracks despite having been denied permission to do so. Jones’ parents, who are also bringing a civil case against the filmmakers, said in a statement: “[We] are comfortable that the authorities were both careful and meticulous in investigating and bringing charges related to the incident that took our daughter’s life. We must allow the criminal justice process to proceed unhindered. Our mission remains the same: to ensure safety on all film sets. Safety for Sarah”.
Although deaths on film and TV sets are not entirely uncommon, criminal proceedings as a result of them are very rare, and very few such cases have resulted in convictions.
