Pretty Boy Floyd Biopic Halted Following Pay Issues, COVID and SAG Notice

Following reports last week that a COVID-19 outbreak delayed production on the Pretty Boy Floyd biopic shooting in and around Santa Fe, crew members tell SFR that behind-the-scenes issues ran much deeper than the virus, and producers are using illness as a smokescreen.

Though several workers did test positive for COVID-19 while working on production for Good Side of a Bad Man about 1930s bank robber Charles Arthur Floyd, causing a shooting delay, the film’s second assistant director, Jessamyn Land, says it hardly represents the whole story, with many workers moving on from the film to seek employment elsewhere and unwilling to return when or if production resumes.

Land says that after the production started, managers slashed the budget, unceremoniously fired at least one employee and didn’t pay workers on time. She and others also say director/producer K. Asher Levin and producer Gabrielle Almagor fostered an unprofessional working environment lacking in basic necessities and decorum. Land says the production did manage to eke out six shooting days before several crew members tested positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 10. Though this did indeed trigger a five-day break, she says the film resumed shooting on Nov. 15 and could have continued further. By Nov. 16, however, producers informed the Santa Fe Film Office they were “pausing effective immediately,” according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.

“It’s not a pause,” Land tells SFR. “Everybody is done, everybody is wrapping out. [The producers] may have the idea that they’re coming back later, but if they do, it will probably be with an entirely different crew. That’s typical when something shuts down—people are going to find other jobs.”

Neither Levin nor Almagor returned voicemails from SFR seeking comment; Santa Fe Film Office head Jennifer LaBar Tapia also did not return calls.

Land says that in her 17 years in film, she has never experienced anything quite like she did while working on Good Side of a Bad Man. Other crew members who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation within the industry echo Land’s frustrations and say they’ve faced an ongoing onslaught of issues as well, from changing accountant teams meant to handle payments through an online portal, to a decided lack of on-set amenities, such as drinking water, and producers failing to pay a mandatory deposit to the Screen Actors Guild. The guild issued a “Do Not Work Notice” against production company Good Side Films, LLC, on Nov. 10.

“Please be advised that Good Side Films, LLC, the producer of the project entitled Good Side of a Bad Man, has failed to complete the signatory process,” the notice reads. “As such, SAG-AFTRA members are hereby instructed to withhold any acting services or performance of any covered work for this production until further notice from the union.”

Additionally, Land says, she and numerous other crew members have not been paid on time, in full or, in some cases, at all.

“I’ve been paid for four days of work, and even that paycheck was delayed by a week,” she says. “I was told I hadn’t turned my paperwork in on time when, in fact, I turned it in a full day before it was due.”

The film’s first assistant director, Jenifer Ellis, says she negotiated her rate within the parameters of the production’s original budget, which she says was later cut in half, at which point she received a text message from the producers informing her of a new, lower rate—with no offer of discussion. Ellis also waived a per diem and paid for her own housing, “to be a team player,” but as of now has not been paid, though she tells SFR the current accountants confirmed her time cards have been filed. Ellis also says she was replaced without notice from producers prior to the COVID outbreak—noting she was neither fired nor did she resign. Instead, she says, the head of the costuming department informed her after overhearing they’d brought another worker in to fill the position, according to Ellis.

That costumer, Gina Ruiz, tells SFR that, like Land and Ellis, she’s never experienced such a level of unprofessionalism in her decade-plus working in film.

“It wasn’t my job [to tell Ellis she had been replaced], but it was the right thing to do,” she explains. “I just really think the producers—and it’s not a production team, really, it’s two people; Gabrielle and Asher—are so naive and Asher is so arrogant. That combination is disastrous. They ran it like a high school musical.”

Ruiz tells SFR she has also not been paid and counts four timecards that have gone ignored. She’s looking into filling a mechanic’s lien on the film, which, if approved, would mean that even if production is completed and the film picks up a distributor, it cannot be released until she is paid.

“I did my job,” she says. “That money is owed to me.”

Land, meanwhile, remains in New Mexico and tells SFR she will not leave until she and the rest of the crew have been paid. As Thanksgiving is this week, that might prove tricky, however, she says.

“I believe there have been three different accounting teams on this,” she says. “I don’t know who the first people were.”

“This is the most shameful, embarrassing film I’ve ever worked on,” Ellis adds, “and I turned down other projects.”

Ruiz also turned down work to take the New Mexico job and has since moved on to a project in Louisiana.

It is additionally unclear whether the production was officially sanctioned by IATSE 480, the New Mexico film union. Crew members tell SFR they believe a union deal was signed after production had already started, though a representative would neither confirm nor deny the deal was made and refused to comment.