Interns

We'll see if SCOTUS reverses this:

Two unpaid interns on the film "Black Swan" were actually Fox Searchlight employees, and a third intern can represent a class, a federal judge ruled.

Eric Glatt and Alexander Footman sued Searchlight and its parent company, Fox Entertainment Group, in October 2011 under the Fair Labor Standards Act and New York Labor Law.

Both men worked on production of "Black Swan" in New York without pay or college credit. Two other unpaid Fox interns who did not work on that film later joined the suit. Kanene Gratts, an unpaid intern in California on the film "500 Days of Summer, alleged a separate claim for violations of California Unfair Competition Law.

The fourth unpaid intern, Eden Antalik, worked at Searchlight's corporate offices in New York.

Interns at many (not all) production studios are participating in corporate scams.

Years ago, I found an unpaid "intern" doing production animation work on a commercial. The crime occurred at a small, union animation studio. I put a stop to it, but there was probably more crap going on elsewhere that I didn't catch or put a stop to. (I often feel like a man slapping a damp towel on hot flames as the forest fire rages around me.)

Glad the court ruled like it did. Wish that companies would just pay the people who do the work. If Rupert (or whatever CEO you care to talk about) makes five thousand dollars less at the end of the fiscal year, is it really a calamity? The end of capitalism as we know it? I think not.