Former production assistant turned business owner, Kelsey-Marie Mohammed said, “I started off as a P.A. making like I think it was like 800 a week and I was like dang, that's really good. But when you really break it down by the amount of hours that you work, it's not that good.”

The movies and tv shows you watch could stop at any moment when the workers behind the scenes decide to walk off the job to demand better conditions, treatment, pay, and hours. Your favorite shows would cease to exist, protestors would crowd movie lots, and movie sets would be ghost towns as the employees who make the entertainment world go ‘round collectively refuse to work when obstacles they face daily are made public accompanied by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees.

The IATSE was founded in 1893 and was created when the representatives of stagehands working in eleven cities met in New York and pledged to support each other’s efforts to establish fair wages and working conditions for their members, according to their website.

Currently, writers and non-unionized support staff are threatening to go on strike for better pay, increased wages from streaming services, and healthcare.

Former production assistant, Letisha, says she’s had times where she felt out of place on certain projects because of the lack of diversity, leading her to be placed in uncomfortable situations.

“The two situations I can recall is getting yelled at by the line producer in front of all of my colleagues from a simple misplacement, which I was not at fault for,” she says.

She added that, “Another situation was when I was tech scouting and was very new on a project. Everyone had established relationships because they’d worked together for years. Like any person, I sat in an available seat on the bus and got told to move to the back of the bus.”

This situation left her feeling uneasy, she says.

“As a Black woman, it left me very embarrassed and frustrated. That’s just something you don’t just say – even if you’re joking. All of my colleagues were mostly white,” she said.

She adds that she texted her group chat of friends and asked if her feelings about the incident were right.

Although what she experienced was off putting, she says as she reflects on her time as a production assistant, the most meaningful project she worked on was diverse in front of and behind the camera.

Letisha says the commute to work played a major role in figuring out what jobs to accept.

“Living almost two hours from where filming takes place really began to take a toll on my mental well-being and has burned me out significantly without me even knowing it,” she said.

Madelynn, an office production assistant, says while she’s lucky to have a position where she works 12-hour days, she knows of people who are on the clock 24/7.

“For producers’ assistants and agents’ assistants, they kind of take on a work role of they’re their assistants at work. But they also can sometimes take on a life assistant role. If your boss is like “Hey, I need X, Y, and Z at 11 p.m.” you have to make sure you get X, Y, and Z done at 11 p.m,” she says.

She adds that, “I have a friend who had to go to the Apple store on her weekend to return one of her boss’ broken Apple watch.”

TV and film workers took to social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram to air out their frustrations through hashtags like #PayUpHollywood, #IALivingWage, and a page made especially for them, @ia_stories.

In one story, a crew member talks about falling asleep behind the wheel

The message says, “I started crying because I felt embarrassed for being so irresponsible. And I cried because my kids can’t grow up without a mom. Working sixteen-hour days isn’t just unfair to employees – it’s unfair to the families of the employees.”

In another story, a production assistant talks about ignoring their health symptoms because of not having proper healthcare.

They said, “I ignored worsening health symptoms as a PA for YEARS because I didn’t have reliable health insurance, and I was pressured by the expectations of the industry not to take time off for doctors’ appointments when I needed it.”

They added that, “It was cancer. I have cancer. And when we found it via emergency surgery, after I’d been working steadily as an AD (assistant director) for months and months, the DGA health plan wouldn’t waive the one singular week left of my “mandatory waiting period” so I could be covered when I started chemotherapy. Ignoring the fact that I’d qualified monetarily almost six months before. This industry is literally killing us.”

Letisha says, “There definitely needs to be a union for assistants across the board. I honestly don’t know why there isn’t one yet. I’ve heard many horror stories of assistants being treated harshly whether it’s mental, emotional, or even physical, where items are being thrown at them.”

She adds that, “Assistants really should be treated with the utmost respect. A lot of people really let their titles and seniority get to their head and forget human decency and respectability.”

Mohammed said she quit working on set of a show called “The Mysteries of Laura” because it wasn’t the best environment.

“It was just really long hours. I felt like I didn’t have a good production office coordinator (POC) and everyone in that office legit quit. The assistant coordinator, he quit. Two of the P.As quit and everyone around me was quitting. So, I quit,” says Mohammed.

Mohammed says during her time as a production assistant, people were made to feel ashamed if they thought about calling in sick, taking time off work, or setting boundaries.

“If you were sick, you were expected to come into work. There were times when I was throwing up at work or I was clearly really, really sick and my coordinator didn’t care. She didn’t send me home. She would get an attitude if I even suggested that I needed to go to the doctor,” she says.

Most of the movie and tv magic seen is made possible by crew members and sometimes lack of care can lead to dangerous situations for the people working to make it all happen. According to the Associated Press, there have been at least 194 serious film and television set accidents in the United States spanning from 1990 to 2014 and at least 43 deaths.

In April, a student cinematographer was killed on a USC student film shoot when an off-road vehicle carrying a group of students flipped over in Imperial Valley. His family have since filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the school and two of the students.

Last year, actor Alec Baldwin was on set of Rust, a western film written and directed by Joel Souza. During rehearsals, he was testing the prop gun while director Souza and cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins were behind the camera. Baldwin fired the prop, and it went off, wounding Souza and killing Hutchins. Investigations are still ongoing.

The “Rust” incident follows behind a long line of production-related accidents. In 2014, camera assistant Sarah Jones died on the set of “Midnight Rider,” a film about musician Gregg Allman in Georgia. The scene involved placing a bed on railroad tracks. After two trains passed, workers thought it would be safe enough for the shot, but a third train came, moving at a high speed, killing Jones, and injuring multiple others.

The film’s director, Randall Miller plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter in 2015, only served a year in jail, and was sentenced to 10 years of probation.

On set of the 2016 film, “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter,” stuntwoman Olivia Jackson was severely injured when she collided with a piece of camera equipment while riding a motorcycle. The accident nearly killed her and resulted in a partially amputated left arm.

On her Instagram, Jackson says, “My life has changed dramatically, and it’s been a long, painful, and extremely difficult path for me to walk. I refuse to give up on trying to heal my broken body and I refuse to keep silent when film productions put profit before people.” She adds that, “At the very least, film crews ought to be able to rely on there being appropriate insurance in place when accidents happen. Unfortunately, as I have learnt, this isn’t always the case.”

While these accidents aren’t the last, it can be said that Hollywood needs to undergo a complete reform to protect the behind-the-scenes workers on all fronts to prevent more incidents.