"The dirt below the barrel": COVID compliance, media financialization, and post-pandemic precarity

Abstract

This thesis utilizes qualitative interviews with former COVID Compliance workers in film and television production to draw larger conclusions about the state of labor relations in the film industry. In framing these interviews and larger, I trace the historical development of deregulation and financialized media production, consider the direct effects that these practices have on media labor, and establish how they set the stage for the exploitation of these workers. COVID Compliance departments were brought onto productions in the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to enforce safety protocols during day-to-day operations, but were often met with verbal and emotional abuse, with their departments phased out as soon as possible. Due to their temporary status on set, these workers also were not provided any sort of protections for their jobs and were underpaid compared to other production assistants. The example set by these workers, largely viewed as a means to an end in returning to production after the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, illustrates a larger attitude of disposability that the media industry holds toward below-the-line labor. Ultimately this thesis argues for a refocus in on-set organizational culture away from content generation to a person-focused approach, in which artifacts are still completed, but workers—particularly aspirant workers trying to establish themselves—have an easier path in trying to begin their careers in the industry.