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SPOTLIGHT ON THE SWEATSHOP SET
The untimely death of a young camera assistant, Brent Hershman [CINEMA, April 21], is a sad call to support trade unions and their collective bargaining. Those of us who work in the industry are all too familiar with directors and producers who believe that because they give you a job you owe them. The only real incentive for reform is money. Most of us don't want the extra $20 or $40 for a late-meal break; we want to stop and rest for a bit. Producers and directors have a driver or a car service to take them to and from work at the end of a long day. Cameraman Hershman unfortunately could not afford one. JONATHAN C. BROTHERHOOD Nyack, New York
Your story on the long hours put in by film crews quoted a construction coordinator for director James Cameron's movie Titanic protesting that his local laborers were underfed by the film company and had to dig through trash to get something to eat. For the past several months, I have served as a naval consultant for Titanic in Mexico. We worked hard and often for long hours, but no one worked harder than Cameron. Good food and beverages were available 24 hours a day to all employees. I never saw anyone eating out of a trash can, and people rarely slept on the set. There was too much raw excitement and activity. KIT BONNER, Naval Historian Fair Oaks, California
As an assistant director I have had personal experience with the hellish hours endured by Hollywood crews. The irony is, this grueling "sweathouse" mentality is rooted not in corporate greed or the crew's desire for overtime, but rather in the way a film crew acts as a tight-knit community linked by personal relationships and loyalties. Mandating shorter hours will not change this. Only a recognition by producers and crew members alike that those same relationships make us responsible for the safety of our friends and co-workers will. After all, it's just a movie. DAVID G. TROTTI Pacific Palisades, California
E-MAIL RUN AMUCK
I was excited to see your story on runaway E-mail [BUSINESS, April 21] but disappointed that you missed a huge opportunity to expose the daily headache of mainstream America Online users: the avalanche of junk E-mail. Each morning I have to sort through dozens of get-rich-quick pyramid-scheme solicitations and assorted come-ons to find a genuine message from someone I actually know. ALAN OLMSTEAD Eureka, California
Your article was so worthwhile that I scanned it into my computer and E-mailed it to everyone in my company. DAVID G. HOLLINGER Wayside, New Jersey
CLARIFICATION
The chart accompanying our story "Backlash Against HMOs" [NATION, April 14] included a listing for HealthNet. We should have used the full name of the HMO we were referring to. It is Health Net (two separate words) of California.
CORRECTION
Our story about troubles at the fbi [Special Report, April 28] included a photograph of Richard Jewell, who was a suspect in the Olympic Park bombing case before he was cleared. The caption for the photo mistakenly referred to Jewell's "arrest." He was not arrested. TIME regrets the error.