The family of the Sarah Jones, the 27 year-old camera assistant who was killed on the set of the Gregg Allman biopic Midnight Rider in February, launched a website late yesterday called www.SafetyforSarah.com to bring attention to safety issues across the entertainment industry.
Sarah’s father Richard Jones announced the launch of the website on his FB page Saturday. When reached this AM by Deadline, Jones said his family created it “to get the message out and sustain the message so the issue of safety on the set will not be forgotten. While Sarah’s death seems to have made some impact on the industry, we want that to continue so that others can be safe while they work.”
The website contains links to FB groups such as Slates for Sarah, I Refuse to Work on Midnight Rider and a link to sign the A Pledge to Sarah commitment to speaking up and out for on-set safety issues (the pledge currently has over 3,200 signees).
The creation of the website comes after the family also gave its blessing to a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to develop an app that could be used to anonymously report safety issues on sets. That was not established directly by the family but they endorsed the app’s creation as they have become strong proponents for safety after their daughter’s tragic death.
RELATED: Sarah Jones Safety App Reaches Crowdfunding Goal
It also comes just a month after the Midnight Rider filmmakers, director Randall Miller, Millers’ wife/producer Jody Savin and exec producer/upm Jay Sedrish were indicted for criminal trespassing and involuntary manslaughter in the wake of the accident that killed Jones and seriously injured others on a train trestle in Georgia.
Miller and Savin have hired lawyers Ed Garland and Don Samuel to defend them and they quickly pled not guilty. They also put out a statement saying that no one had been seriously injured on their sets — a claim that one crew member took them to task on.
RELATED: ‘Midnight Rider’ Safety Claims ‘A Lie’ Says Former Crew member
The lawyers were featured in a SuperLawyer article not long ago which painted Garland as ‘flambouyant’ and ‘a master storyteller’ who loves to dial up the drama. In the article, Garland comes across as a fierce advocate for his clients accused of murder. He likes to talk about how smart he is. And, the article states that he chuckled when talking about how much ‘fun’ he had defending a man of murder at a press conference, and then states that he knows that he walks ‘the edge of what is proper.’ The article also states that the lawyer “never met a camera he didn’t think about using to his client’s advantage.”
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