Intern Lawsuit Hits Hollywood

The simmering issue of unpaid internships in glamour industries is now playing itself out in the starkest of terms in Hollywood, where internships are a hallowed institution, explains an article in the Los Angeles Times. A class action, seeking back pay, damages and an end to the use of unpaid interns at Fox Searchlight Pictures and other units of Fox Entertainment Group has been brought by former interns on the 2010 movie “Black Swan.” One successful film producer told the Times that decades ago he learned valuable lessons “about getting it right, the details,” by fetching chicken soup for the finicky producer of “Platoon.” On the other hand, Eric Glatt, lead plaintiff in the Fox Searchlight lawsuit, says he gave up a high-paying job at AIG in 2010 to work as an intern on “Black Swan,” and running errands like tracking down scented candles and gourmet tea for the director did nothing to further his goal of eventually getting into film editing. “The one thing you learn as an intern,” says Glatt, “is don’t ask.”