‘It’s a gut punch’: how the California wildfires affected film and TV workers

Nearly 8,000 below-the-line Hollywood workers were in evacuation areas with over 300 losing their homes, a further blow to an industry already struggling. When Sandra French returned to her beloved 1930s apartment, she found the building reduced to rubble and ash. “It was so weird,” she recalls. “Out of the rubble, there was a little bright object. It was a pencil holder I bought in Italy, I believe, in 2008 and was sticking up in the air. That was the only thing that survived the fire.”.

French lost her home, including irreplaceable family photos, her baby book and her late mother’s jewellery, when wildfires fuelled by dry conditions and powerful winds swept through Los Angeles on 7 January, killing at least 29 people and destroying thousands of structures. For French and many like her, it was a cumulative blow to an already precarious existence. The fires struck at the heart of an entertainment industry already reeling from pandemic shutdowns, labour turmoil, technological upheaval and a changing production landscape. Some workers are now reconsidering their future as they find it increasingly difficult to make ends meet.

Although Hollywood stars such as Jeff Bridges, Billy Crystal and Mel Gibson losing their homes made headlines, some of the most vulnerable victims are “below-the-line” crew members such as grips, electricians, carpenters, set decorators, sound engineers, costume designers, makeup artists and editors. French, 65, who started working in the industry in Chicago in the late 1980s, is an assistant editor and media archivist. She moved to Los Angeles in 1993 and to an apartment in the Altadena neighbourhood six years ago. The building was constructed by her landlord’s grandfather in the late 1930s.

“It wasn’t just a square box, it was an apartment that had a lot of character,” French recalls by phone from a hotel near the Hollywood Hills. “My windows faced north and I had a view of the mountains every morning. I loved my apartment; I loved the community of Altadena. It was probably the best community I have lived in since I’ve been in LA. Everybody talks to everybody and helps everybody.”.

French was at home on the day the fires came, watching the winds pick up and following reports of fires in Pacific Palisades. At about 1.30pm the electricity went off so she could no longer watch the TV news. At around 6.30pm, in the dark, she happened to look out of her window and see the fire. She reckoned it was about 3 miles away at that point. French put some clothes and toiletries in a bag, but, assuming she would be back in a few days, did not take her computer. In high winds she drove her Honda Civic car to Pasadena and stayed at a friend’s house. When, days later, she returned to the site of her apartment, she was confronted with a scene of devastation.

She reflects: “It’s quite an experience, waking up and one day you have everything, your home and all your possessions, and the next day you wake up and everything is gone. The building is basically just ash and rubble. The outside walls are standing but most of the windows are blown out and everything’s mangled. It was a two-floor building with a staircase: all of that collapsed so it’s just ash and rubble.

“Driving through Altadena, it felt like a graveyard to me. Many neighbourhoods are wiped out. Entire blocks are gone. Then you’ll see the other neighbourhoods where most of the houses are standing: like three will be standing and one’s gone. But there’s a big majority of neighbourhoods in Altadena that did not survive the fire.”. French, whose possessions were not insured, expresses gratitude to the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (Iatse), the union for below-the-line workers, and the Motion Picture Editors Guild for being supportive and generous to members who lost everything. Some were already struggling due to the economic shocks of recent years.

“It does feel different right now in Hollywood. So many people I know haven’t worked in a year, two years. For people in the film industry that have suffered this tremendous loss of their their home and possessions it’s a gut punch because we’ve already lost our livelihoods. “It’s overwhelming for me right now as a single person so it would be harder for families at this time. Now our homes and our possessions are destroyed, so I guess it’s a recovery and rebuilding time.”.

French is now pondering her future. She was ready to retire after being laid off by Paramount studios in 2022 and finding work scarce because of the actors’ and writers’ strikes the following year. She adds: “I’m 65, so from now on out I’m going to probably live very minimally. At this point I’m trying to not rush into anything. I’m thinking about taking a trip and getting out of California for a little bit and regrouping and getting my thoughts together and seeing if I want to come back here or if I want to start anew somewhere.”.