http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-child-actors-bill-20120816,0,4064286.story
A bill was passed to protect child actors. The bill requires the people that work in the entertainment industry who have access to young performers to have background checks. Having background checks done to people in the industry such as talent managers, publicists, and photographers would prevent registered sex offenders to be working with minors. This bill also backed up former child actors that were victims of abuse.
This article is significant because it has to do with the protection of children. As a student, this article makes one feel safer as a child or teenager that are trying to get a job in the entertainment industry. In the film industry, everyone working together on a project is linked. Someone in the film industry would not want to hire someone who could potentially be a danger to any of the workers, especially if they are children. If something of that sort were to happen, the industry, having had hired the person, would get involved with the situation. An industry with a history of sex offenders is not going to appeal to the consumer very much because they would not like to support the problem in any way.
Children are not the only people who could get abused by workers, so having had passed the bill of requiring a background check for people who would be associating with child actors, shouldn't the entertainment agency just do background checks for all of their staff? This would ensure that all of the workers are reliable and it would eliminate the worry of potentially having a problem of abuse among any of the workers.
I agree with your statement it makes us as students feel safer about trying to get a job in the entertainment industry. And I agree that having people work with children is a great risk because they never know if they have a sex offender on set with them or not.
ReplyDeleteI think this article is aimed more at those people who cast themselves as Managers to child actors. They are not licensed by the state so anyone can do this. That is the scary part.
ReplyDeleteLike you said, I honestly thought that they would have already done background checks. Why only pass this bill now? It should have been passed a long time ago. Obviously, after the first child actor was abused, a bill like this should have already been passed. Background checks also shouldn't be limited to those working with child actors. Every single person working on set should be checked, like you stated. It's just plain recklessness to hire someone without figuring out their background.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement, not only child actors can be victims of this type of abuse, but so can other staff members. It's a shame that the bill was just recently passed. Image how many people may have been abused. I don't understand why background checks weren't done before, but it is a relief that they are being done now.(:
ReplyDeleteChild actors are pretty much gifted children, very gifted if they can make millions in playing a role in movies. They deserve protection from problems faced by an older generation to keep the youthful safe and thriving in the industry.
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