The audience burst into wild applause when two-time Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler asked a packed house at the Writers Guild Theater, “Can I make the grand statement that all of us here feel that the issue of rampant excessive hours in our business must be addressed as an urgent health and safety issue?”

The enthusiastic crowd mixed writers with grips, electricians, camera crew, costumers, directors, script supervisors, make-up artists, art directors, location scouts, assistant directors, production managers, and actors. Wexler continued: “I think the historical aspect of this meeting is not just the issue itself, but the fact that writers, technical people, directors, and actors are in unity on one particular human subject. It’s a victory for all of us!”

This diverse group of top entertainment industry professionals had gathered for the West Coast premiere of Wexler’s behind-the-scenes documentary Who Needs Sleep?, co-hosted by WGAw and Screen Actors Guild. The explosive film exposes the inhumane and exploitative working hours imposed on entertainment professionals. “In an industry that projects a pampered and overpaid lifestyle, this film reveals the reality of an overworked and undervalued workforce,” said WGAw president Patric M. Verrone. “It is especially compelling to see that, for many filmmakers, exploitation is the norm and, for some, the ‘Hollywood ending’ is death.”

The warmly received screening was followed by a panel discussion moderated by Verrone with Wexler (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Bound for Glory, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Medium Cool); Gene Reynolds, Emmy- and DGA Award-winning director-actor (M*A*S*H, Lou Grant, Touched by an Angel); Esai Morales, SAG national board member and actor (NYPD Blue, Resurrection Blvd., American Family); and Mykle Parker, reality storyteller (Three Wishes, Outback Jack, Average Joe). Verrone opened with, “We are all in this industry together. Representatives of all the unions are here.” Morales added, “SAG is 100 percent behind this movement.” In a lively exchange, Verrone and the panelists fielded thoughtful questions and perceptive insights born of audience members’ firsthand experience.

Who Needs Sleep?, co-directed by Wexler and Lisa Leeman, generated considerable buzz at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival by exploring the deadly combination of sleep deprivation and grueling hours routinely demanded of film crews. Wexler first turned his camera on his own industry after the 1997 death of camera assistant Brent Hershman, who fell asleep at the wheel and drove his car into a tree after working a week of brutally long days on the movie Pleasantville. Since that tragedy, Wexler lost other close colleagues to similar fates. He kept his camera rolling after the industry failed to adopt “Brent’s Rule” (limiting shooting days to 14 hours) despite a petition with more than 10,000 signatures.

Who Needs Sleep? features interviews with workers, from grips to movie stars. Wexler’s professional stature granted him access to notables such as writer-director John Sayles; producer Richard Zanuck; actors Paul Newman, Julia Roberts, and Tom Hanks; director Sam Mendes; and cinematographers Vittorio Storaro and Caleb Deschanel. All reveal how inhumane conditions impact them. Mendes observes that his ultimate employer is General Electric, a corporate conglomerate that primarily manufactures bombs. He says, “We are just a drop in the ocean.”

Wexler interviews European film professionals who point out that crews in other countries don’t need to work long hours to make movies efficiently. In fact, European crews “just walk away” after 12 hours. Italian cinematographer Nicola Pecorini asks what good is it to make a lot of money if you have to spend it all on medical care?

IATSE president Tom Short and AMPTP president Nick Counter wither in the scorching glare of Wexler’s lens as each desperately tries to avoid taking responsibility for ending worker exploitation. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration comes off as incompetent and uncaring at both federal and state levels. At one point, Wexler focuses on a cell phone bleating the voice of an OSHA official who refuses to meet with him saying, “We don’t deal with time.”

Wexler’s quest takes him into the world of science where he interviews doctors who are researching human sleep and offers himself as a subject. Sleep researcher Dr. Van Cauter observes, “Sleep deprivation is unique to the human. No animal tries to sleep deprive itself. They just sleep when they need to sleep. We are totally unique in this desire to stay awake no matter what, even if our body is screaming to go to bed.” After another scientist compares sleepiness to drunkenness, Wexler cuts to an interview with a camera assistant who asks why bartenders and bar owners are liable for car accidents caused by their drunken patrons but producers are not liable for accidents caused by their fatigued crew members. It’s a question that remains unanswered as the film explores sleep deprivation throughout our culture, including in the medical profession.

Who Needs Sleep? also documents the rise of the nonprofit organization 12 On/12 Off, founded in 2003 by cinematographer Roderick E. Stevens, who explains, “I came to realize that since individuals are nearly powerless against the trundling beasts of economics and history, a collective voice would be necessary.” That voice speaks on T-shirts emblazoned with three reasonable rules that 12 On/12 Off hopes to persuade producers to institute:

1. No more than 12 hours of work.
2. No less than 12 hours of turnaround.
3. No more than six hours between meals.

Although the Writers Guild would seem to be the union least concerned with on-set working conditions, in fact the issues raised in Who Needs Sleep? are directly relevant to WGAw’s ongoing campaign to organize storytellers in the even more draconian world of reality television. Writers and editors of reality programming routinely endure sweatshop conditions and unpaid overtime. The Guild’s Reality Organizing Committee has reached out to these non-union workers by helping them file class-action lawsuits against employers who have failed to pay overtime wages; sponsoring “Know Your Rights” seminars; and collecting surveys on wages, hours, and working conditions to document the broad nature of this problem.

During the panel discussion, Morales brought down the house when he commented, “This seems to me like a basic human rights issue. Shouldn’t it be a human right to sleep?” When the applause died down, Wexler added, “Along with that is the struggle for universal healthcare. Our society spends more money, more energy, and more intelligence on how to kill people than on how to keep them alive. This is a health and safety issue. That’s all.”