EXCLUSIVE: Filming on Hulu’s new series Saint X shut down Friday in the Dominican Republic after several crew members, including the key grip and members of the electric unit, walked off the set, Deadline has learned.
The U.S. crew members, said to span the show’s entire first unit grip and electric teams, allege that they were not compensated correctly for overtime, which led to their walk-off. Saint X is produced by ABC Signature, part of Disney Television Studios.
A spokesperson for Disney TV Studios confirmed that a number of employees were let go after “walking off the job, forcing filming to stop.” The spokesperson said they will be replaced with other U.S. union members.
The set of the psychological drama has remained dark since (Saturday and Sunday were scheduled days off); it is unclear when filming will resume though a studio insider indicated that the goal is to restart production later this week.
We hear the dispute stems from the amount of overtime the impacted crew members were getting paid after reaching 12 hours of work a day. According to sources close to the workers, the studio was paying them 1.5 their rate until the 14-hour mark which they claim violated many of the crew’s contracts. They allegedly asked ABC Signature to correct the issue or they would walk off after 12 hours on the job, which they ultimately did on Friday. It’s understood the producers tried to keep the shooting going which proved to be impossible, as the main film lights were switched to houselights and the crew members involved in the dispute picked up their equipment and left. Those technicians were subsequently fired.
One source on the crew told Deadline that members of the local 600 camera team were considering whether to leave in solidarity; a rep for ABC Signature said that noone else has departed the production.
Based on Alexis Schaitkin’s 2020 novel of the same name, Saint X is a psychological drama told via multiple timelines and perspectives that explores the girl-gone-missing genre. It’s a show about how a young woman’s mysterious death during a Caribbean vacation creates a traumatic ripple effect that eventually pulls her surviving sister into a dangerous pursuit of the truth. It stars Josh Bonzie (The Politician), Jayden Elijah (School’s Out Forever), Victoria Pedretti (The Haunting of Bly Manor), and West Duchovny (The Magicians).
Leila Gerstein is writing the eight-parter while Dee Rees directs. Stephen Williams will also executive produces with Anonymous Content and DreamCrew Entertainment as well as Schaitkin.