Philosophical Vegan Forum

J-Park wrote:However, it is customary for the filmmakers to allocate a portion of their budget to feed the crew, and rightly so.

I see an opportunity. If you can make delicious vegan meals for them you might turn them veg*n in the process!

miniboes wrote:

J-Park wrote:However, it is customary for the filmmakers to allocate a portion of their budget to feed the crew, and rightly so.

I see an opportunity. If you can make delicious vegan meals for them you might turn them veg*n in the process!

Maybe, but I'm not much of a cook lol. Any suggestions on what kinds of meals I could make?

J-Park wrote:

miniboes wrote:

J-Park wrote:However, it is customary for the filmmakers to allocate a portion of their budget to feed the crew, and rightly so.

I see an opportunity. If you can make delicious vegan meals for them you might turn them veg*n in the process!

Maybe, but I'm not much of a cook lol. Any suggestions on what kinds of meals I could make?

Nope, me neither xD

J-Park wrote:However, I feel conflicted, as I would not want to support industries that exploit animals by supplying animal products. But, the people who volunteer on these makeshift sets deserve to be fed for the time and effort they put into these projects. I doubt I’ll be lucky enough to find a completely vegan, or even vegetarian, crew. It’s a dilemma I struggle with, and I haven’t even started this yet.

Non-vegan people can still happily eat vegan food. What dilemma is there to be had in this situation? It's customary to feed volunteers, but as they are not paying for the food, I'm not sure you'd have any obligation to feed them animal products.

J-Park wrote:However, I feel conflicted, as I would not want to support industries that exploit animals by supplying animal products. But, the people who volunteer on these makeshift sets deserve to be fed for the time and effort they put into these projects. I doubt I’ll be lucky enough to find a completely vegan, or even vegetarian, crew. It’s a dilemma I struggle with, and I haven’t even started this yet.

1. As others said, you should be under no obligation to feed them animal products. Carnists can eat vegan food, it's not like we have the same obligation to feed them meat as they have an obligation to feed us vegan: we can't eat their food.

2. To the same note, you should try to make sure the food you buy can really be eaten by everybody. And that all of it can -- this provides you a really good reason for it to be vegan.

That may also mean making it:

-Gluten free (since a lot of people are avoiding gluten these days)
-Checking into any allergies, possibly avoiding peanuts, or whatever else your crew is allergic to

They will be more likely to understand if the food is catering to EVERYBODY'S needs equally, instead of just being vegan but excluding other crew members' needs. If everybody can eat it, you should be in the clear. If you ignore somebody else's genuine needs, you may find some criticism.

Find out what your guys can and can't eat, and then post on a vegan forum like this (or another) for advice on what to feed them. We'll make sure you don't have any problems, and they enjoy the food.

I don't really have a job, but at school, some kids call me a pussy or something just because I don't eat meat..

RedAppleGP wrote:some kids call me a pussy or something just because I don't eat meat..

Then meaby you should school them on what 'pussy' means.
You're not a pussy, you're dealing with reality; you saw that eating animal products is immoral, so you changed your way of life to make positive change.
You didn't run away from the problem, you faced it and you settled it; that's the opposite of a 'pussy'.

They, on the other hand, are closing their eyes to the issue, because it'd be too inconvenient to change, or because they wouldn't have the courage to do the right thing and go against mainstream society; if anyone is a 'pussy', it's them.

brimstoneSalad wrote:1. As others said, you should be under no obligation to feed them animal products. Carnists can eat vegan food, it's not like we have the same obligation to feed them meat as they have an obligation to feed us vegan: we can't eat their food.

While I agree with this, it’s worth mentioning that the volunteers are also under no obligation to remain with the production, and may walk off the set if they somehow feel cheated on the food. This is where my concern lies. It may be a baseless concern, but there is a very irrational and widespread contempt for veg*ns these days. Even mentioning the words vegan, or vegetarian, puts people on the defensive. People have been accused of “forcing their beliefs on others” for less (which is ironic in and of itself). But I don’t think it’s an entirely irrational concern to have, and I want to cover all my bases before I invest any time and money into this.

brimstoneSalad wrote:2. To the same note, you should try to make sure the food you buy can really be eaten by everybody. And that all of it can -- this provides you a really good reason for it to be vegan.

That may also mean making it:

-Gluten free (since a lot of people are avoiding gluten these days)
-Checking into any allergies, possibly avoiding peanuts, or whatever else your crew is allergic to

Yes, I’ve actually thought of that. I plan to make, and distribute, wavers for people to sign for any project I make. It will highlight various aspects of the production (shooting days, hours of operation, locations, compensation (or lack thereof), codes of conduct, safety and technical information, etc.). It will include a section for the volunteer to disclose possible food allergies and dietary restrictions, among other things. It’s generally a good idea to do this, primarily for legal reasons, but also so the cast and crew have full disclosure of what to expect during production.

brimstoneSalad wrote:They will be more likely to understand if the food is catering to EVERYBODY'S needs equally, instead of just being vegan but excluding other crew members' needs. If everybody can eat it, you should be in the clear. If you ignore somebody else's genuine needs, you may find some criticism.

This is a very good point.

brimstoneSalad wrote:Find out what your guys can and can't eat, and then post on a vegan forum like this (or another) for advice on what to feed them. We'll make sure you don't have any problems, and they enjoy the food.

This is great advice, I’ll definitely implement this when I start putting a crew together. Thanks a lot!

J-Park wrote: While I agree with this, it’s worth mentioning that the volunteers are also under no obligation to remain with the production, and may walk off the set if they somehow feel cheated on the food.

Not if you write the agreement correctly. Novice actors have no right to by fussy and quit a production part-way, and if they do you have every right to sue them for expenses they incur for re-shooting scenes they didn't complete with a new actor, as well as any other incidentals.

Additionally, they should be aware that, beyond damages, this will earn them a bad reputation in the business and you'll do your best to let everybody know that they're hard to work with.

When people agree to do something like that (particularly where there's a lot of money involved), they need to follow through.

Get a lawyer to look over it to make sure everything is square before you begin. If somebody is being a drama queen and walks off set, they'll have to pay for the expenses and inconvenience they create in doing so, and will have substantial difficulty getting a paying job in the future. Welcome to the real world.

J-Park wrote:Well my current job doesn’t conflict with my (soon to be) veganism, at least not at the moment. However, I plan to get into low-budget filmmaking (i.e. short films, web series, etc.). It is common in smaller productions for crew members, and sometimes cast members, to volunteer without any financial compensation. However, it is customary for the filmmakers to allocate a portion of their budget to feed the crew, and rightly so. However, I feel conflicted, as I would not want to support industries that exploit animals by supplying animal products. But, the people who volunteer on these makeshift sets deserve to be fed for the time and effort they put into these projects. I doubt I’ll be lucky enough to find a completely vegan, or even vegetarian, crew. It’s a dilemma I struggle with, and I haven’t even started this yet.

I also do filming, but more of a hobby. You'd be amazed how many people in that industry are vegetarian. The only profession with a higher percentage I've encountered are vets.

If you don't have some vegan options, you're going to get a lot of complaints.