What would you, literally, walk-out on ?

[atheisticmystic]

I was reading this article regarding a Skynet show about "female genital mutilation".

(http://www.newsweek.com/poverty-porn-why-female-genital-mutilation-should-not-be-shown-tv-sky-467997

When the essayist holds the video crew partially responsible for not intervening while filming a young girl undergoing FMG (she uses the term, "poverty porn"), I wondered if would have had the ethical courage to set the kit down and say, "I can't do this"...or maybe even to intervene.

Flush at least one, very big, network client down the drain, and perhaps even a large chunk of my reputation and resultant wages ?

As a father of a young daughter, my gut tells me I would have great difficulty accepting a gig as described above. But imagine not receiving a head's up (while shooting on a continent far from home) and some Producer herding you into a third world space and saying on the day, "Here's what we're shooting".

I've not been tested yet to this degree (in this field).

What have you walked out on, on the actual day?

best,

Steven

[DanieldH]

Tough Story.

I've had 2 shots, I would liked to walk away from but did not find the courage. Both of them, I did not enquire what it was about or thought about well enough in advance.
One was an industry video for a "ship motor" that turned out to be for a company manufacturing mainly military products. I don't like working for that kind of money, karmawise, others may feel different.

The other was a shot for a boulevard magazine, that featured the "good" police cleaning up all the black people dealing drugs in some urban park, along with highly suggestive voxpop interviews.

Now my stories are a fraction of severity of ethical concerns compared to your question, but they taught me the lesson to enquire and research to whom or what I'll be working in terms of the products message.

What I would walk away from is failing working safety. Just search this site for "Roar".

[Wandering Ear]

I'm not sure  I could've handled recording the situation you described.  I've never actually walked off during a job, and have quit very few jobs so far, but I have turned down many jobs that I just don't want to be involved in.  Most of them are exploitive reality shows, cheating housewives etc.  They aren't as morally reprehensible, but I just know I can't handle listening to that kind of drama, or get behind producers who set people up for pain and intentionally exploit peoples terrible situations.  I did quit after one job working for a company who takes volunteers to do international aid work, then systematically demoralizes and demeans them until they break down, while stuck in a remote area of a 3rd world country, and to this day I can't figure out why except for some sadistic pleasure.  I'd rather change careers than work for people like that.  Fortunately the vast majority of my work is positive.

[cmassey]

Damn....Wandering Ear, that's weird!!!!

[Jay Rose]

I've walked out on precisely two political spots, where I was told 'the candidate wants to express position x' -- how politics is supposed to work -- and then proceeded to sling the worst kind of misleading mud. If I believe that my contribution has any worth at all, then I can't sit still for having a small part of my art cause people to vote one way for the wrong reasons.

The producer 

1)  said 'well, we just get someone else'. I resisted the temptation to say 'yeah, but they won't be as good.'

2) never called me again. No loss.

[old school]

I quit Roar.....

CrewC