News

Convicted felon Randall Miller is planning on returning to a film set, and this time, the state of California may be helping him.

After pleading guilty to criminal trespassing and involuntary manslaughter in the on-set death of camera assistant Sarah Jones while shooting the film “Midnight Rider” in Georgia, Miller served a year in prison and is still currently under probation. Despite this, as reported by Variety, California has granted Miller $1.5 million in tax incentives to shoot in the state for an upcoming independent feature for which he and his team are currently seeking financing. Per the terms of his probation, Miller is unable to direct this project but has written the script and will serve as a producer.

The tax credits granted were for a production called “Supercrip,” which, according to a description, tells the story of a quadriplegic Uber driver whose life changes after meeting “a self-centered movie star.

Director Randall Miller, who remains on probation for the fatal accident on the set of “Midnight Rider,” has scored $1.5 million in California state tax incentives to make his next independent feature.

Miller and his team were granted the tax credit to make “Supercrip,” a story about a quadriplegic Uber driver whose life is changed when he meets a “self-centered movie star,” according to the description.

Miller is not allowed to direct movies while on probation. In an interview, he said he wrote the screenplay, but is not directing. No director has been hired.

He said filming is expected to begin on March 1, though he is still working to put together the financing. His probation is due to expire on March 9, after which he will no longer face any court-imposed limit on his activity.

Miller pleaded guilty in 2015 to involuntary manslaughter in the death of camera assistant Sarah Jones. He was...

A California Bar Court Judge Yvette Roland ruled that conservative attorney John Eastman, one of the co-conspirators in former President Donald Trump‘s plan to overturn the 2020 election, should be disbarred.

Eastman testified before the State Bar of California in June 2023 in a proceeding aimed to strip him of his license to practice law in the state.

He was one of Trump’s lawyers in 2020 and played a large role in helping him try to overturn the results of that year’s election, which the former president falsely claims was “stolen” by Joe Biden and Democratic officials.

He also devised a plan involving former Vice President Mike Pence invalidating the 2020 results during a joint session of Congress which had convened to count the electoral votes.

For months, a federal grand jury in Washington met in secret and heard testimony from witnesses, including Pence. He allegedly told the jury that he...

Coffee Wars Trailer — Randall Miller‘s Coffee Wars (2023) movie trailer has been released. The Coffee Wars trailer stars Kate Nash, Toby Sebastian, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Owain Arthur, Maria Conchita Alonso, Jordan Stephens, Maya Savin Miller, Jenny Rainsford, and Freddie Fox. Crew Randall Miller and David Rollins wrote the screenplay for Coffee Wars. Poster Coffee Wars Movie Poster Plot Synopsis Coffee Wars‘s [...]

Continue reading: Coffee Wars (2023) Movie Trailer: Coffee Aficionado Kate Nash faces Her Archrival at the World Barista Championships...

Randall Miller will have to serve another two years of probation, after a Georgia appeals court this week denied his motion to terminate his sentence early.

The director pleaded guilty in March 2015 to involuntary manslaughter in the death of camera assistant Sarah Jones, who was killed by a freight train during the filming of “Midnight Rider.” Miller served a year in jail and was also sentenced to 10 years of probation, during which time he is forbidden from directing movies.

Miller was the first director ever sentenced to jail for an on-set accident. His case has resurfaced in the news after a Santa Fe prosecutor announced involuntary manslaughter charges against Alec Baldwin and Hannah Gutierrez-Reed in the death of “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

Since being released from jail in 2016, Miller has made attempts to loosen his probation restrictions.

Last year, his attorney asked a judge to end his sentence early under...

On the evening of July 23, 1982, “Animal House” director John Landis was filming a tricky nighttime helicopter scene for “Twilight Zone: The Movie.” The wide-open spaces of Indian Dunes, now part of Santa Clarita, Calif., were standing in for Vietnam, and the scene called for soldiers in a helicopter to pursue actor Vic Morrow, who was carrying two children. When the copter made a turn just above a large mortar round, the special effect explosive detonated, bringing down the helicopter and killing Morrow along with 7-year-old Myca Dinh Le and 6-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen.

The devastating accident shook Hollywood, and several months later, Variety announced that “Landis, pilot, others face ‘Twilight’ accident charges.” Landis and other “Twilight Zone” movie crew members were charged with involuntary manslaughter — the same charges “Rust” actor and producer Alec Baldwin and “Midnight Rider” director Randall Miller faced for their roles in on-set deaths.

Five years later,...

Randall Miller, the director who was sentenced to a year in jail after the fatal train crash on the set of “Midnight Rider,” has asked a Georgia appeals court to terminate his probation early.

Miller was ordered to serve 10 years of probation after pleading guilty in 2015 to involuntary manslaughter in connection with the crash that killed camera assistant Sarah Jones and injured six others.

While he is on probation, Miller is forbidden from working as a director or having any other role on set where he would be in charge of safety.

In 2020, prosecutors asked that Miller’s probation be revoked, after they learned that he had shot a new movie, “Higher Grounds.” The judge in the case, Anthony Harrison, declined to send Miller back to jail, but warned him not to make any more films for the balance of his probation.

Last fall, the state probation office submitted a...

William Hurt, an Oscar winner for Kiss of the Spider Woman who often played a quiet intellectual in his early acting roles but later took more strident turns in science fiction and Marvel films, died today, a week before his 72nd birthday.

William Hurt’s son, Will, posted today that his father has died. It was announced in May 2018 that the elder Hurt had terminal prostate cancer that had spread to the bone.

William Hurt Remembered As A Giant Talent By His Peers In The Acting Community

“It is with great sadness that the Hurt family mourns the passing of William Hurt, beloved father and Oscar winning actor, on March 13, 2022, one week before his 72nd birthday,” his son wrote. “He died peacefully, among family, of natural causes. The family requests privacy at this time.”

Hurt had three consecutive Best Actor Academy Award nominations in the mid-1980s for Kiss of the Spider Woman...

On the eve of the eighth anniversary of Sarah Jones’s death on a railroad trestle in Georgia, her father is calling for the creation of a Safety Coalition to address safety issues, prevention, and accountability in the film and television industry.

Jones, a 27-year-old camera assistant, was killed on Feb. 20, 2014, on the set of the doomed film Midnight Rider, when she was struck by a speeding freight train. Seven others were injured on that first day of shooting, and the film’s director, Randall Miller, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and spent a year in jail.

Sarah’s father, Richard Jones, a tireless campaigner for set safety, tells Deadline that civil and criminal penalties for reckless and dangerous behavior are one thing. But “it’s too late by the time it gets into the court system.” Accidents like the one that took his daughter’s life, and last October...

Alan Brain’s 2021 award-winning “The Rumba Kings” and Jace Panebianco’s “Broken Molds” will be among the films showcased at the Maui Film Festival, which will accommodate guests in an open-air, pod-style seating, from Nov. 17-21 at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center in Kahului. There are 13 premieres among the features in the lineup.

Even though the festival has arranged for guests to show proof of vaccination, for those who wish to participate virtually, 90 feature films and shorts are available to stream. These include Nov. 17 screenings: Emily Sky’s “River,” which explores space and time throughout six continents; Panebianco’s “Broken Molds,” which follows the origin story of windsurfing, and Isaac Halasima’s “Waterman,” a documentary narrated by Jason Mamoa, that tells the story of five-time Olympic Gold medalist Paoa Kahanamoku.

Peggy Callahan and Louie Psihoyos “Mission Joy,” explores the friendship between Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama, and Frauke Sandig’s documentary,...

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins’ death last Thursday on the set of Rust is the latest in a long list of camera crew members who have been killed on the job, making camera work far and away the most dangerous work in Hollywood, more deadly than even stunts.

In the last 10 years, four members of camera teams have been killed on the set in the US – twice the number of stunt fatalities.

Camera crews work directly in front of the action, with nothing but their cameras between them and a speeding car, train or bullet. They’ve been killed in airplane and helicopter crashes; washed overboard and drowned in the ocean; struck and killed by a runaway stunt car; and crushed to death in a camera truck rollover.

The death of 27-year-old camera assistant Sarah Jones, who was killed on Feb.20, 2014 by a speeding freight train while filming a scene for Midnight Rider in Georgia,...

A Georgia judge on Wednesday decided not to send Randall Miller back to jail for shooting a movie in 2019, but warned the director not to make any more films for the remainder of his sentence.

Miller is on probation for the 2014 death of camera assistant Sarah Jones, who was killed in a train crash on the set of “Midnight Rider.” Miller pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and served a year in jail in Wayne County, Ga. The judge, Anthony Harrison, also sentenced Miller to 10 years of probation, during which he was not to work as a “director, first assistant director or supervisor with responsibility for safety in any film production.”

Local prosecutors moved last year to revoke Miller’s probation, after learning that Miller had directed a new film, “Higher Grounds,” in Serbia, London and Colombia in 2019. At a lengthy hearing on Wednesday, Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Keith Higgins...

Midnight Rider director Randall Miller told a Georgia court Wednesday that he never knowingly violated the conditions of his probation for the 2014 death of Sarah Jones, and that was just enough to convince a judge not to send him back to jail.

“I was allowed to continue to work in the film business as long as I worked in a role that did not involve safety,” Miller said in video testimony today from his home in California, regarding his understanding of the parameters of his probation and parole. “It was important to me that I had no role in safety if I was to do any movie at all,” the Bottle Shock helmer added.

“I get that he was nervous and heard what he wanted to hear,” Judge Anthony L. Harrison declared of Miller misunderstanding the scope of his sentence in the heat of trial back in 2015. Yet, the Georgia...

Director Randall Miller has asked a Georgia judge to once again delay his probation hearing, noting that he recently tested positive for Covid-19.

Miller is on probation for involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 2014 death of Sarah Jones, a camera assistant who was killed in a train crash on the set of the film “Midnight Rider.” Under the terms of his sentence, Miller was not to serve as a director for a period of 10 years.

However, Miller directed a film called “Higher Grounds” in Serbia in 2019. When officials were alerted to the project last spring, they accused Miller of violating his probation.

The hearing was originally scheduled for June but has been repeatedly delayed. It is now set for Nov. 30. On Monday afternoon, Miller’s attorneys informed Judge Anthony Harrison that Miller had tested positive for Covid-19 and could not travel for at least three weeks.

“For the foregoing reasons,...

Update, Aug. 14: Randall Miller’s hearing before Judge Anthony L. Harrison has been delayed again, now set for Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 9Am Et, “upon agreement of counsel, and for good cause shown” according to an amended rule nisi which you can read here. Deadline will update you if we hear back from Miller’s attorney Ed Garland or Harrison, but we hear that talks between prosecutors and Miller’s team are ongoing to determine whether or not the Midnight Rider filmmaker should serve more time in jail after directing the DGA signatory film Higher Grounds last summer in Serbia, Colombia and the UK during his probation period.

On May 29, Georgia law enforcement authorities requested that Department of Community Supervision issue an arrest warrant for the filmmaker, asserting that he violated the conditions of his probation.

Miller’s lawyers on June 2 said that Miller was well within his rights to...

Exclusive: Update, 12:45 Pm: Looks like both Randall Miller and the family of Sarah Jones will have to wait a while longer to discover if the Midnight Rider director could be going back to jail or not.

A hearing (exclusively revealed by Deadline last week) on the possible probation violation by the once again working filmmaker that was scheduled for June 17 at the at the Wayne County Courthouse in Jesup, Georgia and online has been moved to July 22.

“Technical issues” was the reason given for the more than a month long delay.

This postponement comes as prosectors and lawyers for Miller have already de facto clashed outside the courthouse on whether a warrant should be issued for the Californian-based director. However, the shift today from the court clerk’s office does give Miller some significant breathing room over if his helming of the comedy Higher Grounds overseas last year was out of bounds or not.

Exclusive: One week after Georgia prosecutors sought a new arrest warrant for Midnight Rider director Randall Miller over probation violations stemming from the 2014 on-set death of Sarah Jones, the filmmaker’s lawyers are fighting back to stop potential return to jail for their client.

“The defense urges the court to deny the application for a warrant,” proclaims a June 2 memorandum from the Atlanta firm of Garland, Samuel & Loeb that was made public by the Peach State courts today.

As exclusively reported by Deadline on May 27, last year Miller was the director of the independent feature comedy Higher Grounds in Serbia, UK and Columbia. On the surface, the DGA sanctioned gig seems to be in contradiction to the terms of Miller’s 2016 probation from his involuntary manslaughter conviction that appeared to not allow him to direct anything for 10 years.

Miller’s attorneys have argued that he was well within the rules...

Randall Miller, the “Midnight Rider” director serving probation for his role in the 2014 death of camera assistant Sarah Jones, will be summoned to court for allegedly violating his probation by directing a new film last year, Variety reported.

As part of a 2015 plea deal in Georgia, Miller pleaded guilty to criminal trespassing and involuntary manslaughter in connection to Jones’ death. She was killed and several others injured when a train plowed through a “Midnight Rider” set that was set up on a Georgia train trestle.

He was released after serving a year in prison and is now subject to a 10-year probation in which he is “prohibited from serving as director, first assistant director or supervisor with responsibility for safety in any film production.”

Miller’s lawyers understood that to mean that Miller was allowed to shoot his latest film, “Higher Grounds,” in Serbia, Colombia, and the UK last year,...

Midnight Rider will forever be a cautionary tale for moviemakers, but after the death of camera assistant Sarah Jones during the infamous production, can the film's director, Randall Miller, ever be absolved of ultimate responsibility? That question is now surfacing as Miller pursues new projects.

Jones died on a railway trestle bridge in Georgia on Feb. 20, 2014. The following year, Miller pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter as part of a deal with prosecutors for charges against his wife, producer Jody Savin, to be dismissed. Now out of jail, Miller has pursued vindication in various forms. He also found time ...

Midnight Rider will forever be a cautionary tale for moviemakers, but after the death of camera assistant Sarah Jones during the infamous production, can the film's director, Randall Miller, ever be absolved of ultimate responsibility? That question is now surfacing as Miller pursues new projects.

Jones died on a railway trestle bridge in Georgia on Feb. 20, 2014. The following year, Miller pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter as part of a deal with prosecutors for charges against his wife, producer Jody Savin, to be dismissed. Now out of jail, Miller has pursued vindication in various forms. He also found time ...

“Midnight Rider” director Randall Miller violated his probation by shooting a new independent film overseas, Georgia officials from the Department of Community Supervision told TheWrap Friday.

“After a thorough review of the case and collaboration with our partners in law enforcement, it has been determined that Mr. Miller’s actions result in a violation of his probation, and appropriate action will be taken,” Brian Tukes, a spokesman for the department, said in a statement.

Local prosecutors can now seek a warrant for Miller’s arrest, though a representative for the Superior Criminal department in Wayne County told TheWrap that no violation has been filed as of Friday.

Also Read: 'Midnight Rider' Case: Csx Transportion Settles with Sarah Jones' Family

Miller, who served a year in prison after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass over the death of camera assistant Sarah Jones during the 2014 shoot of “Midnight Rider,...

Exclusive: Six years after Sarah Jones was killed on the Georgia set of Midnight Rider, director Randall Miller is facing being arrested again.

Law enforcement authorities in the Peach State today requested that Department of Community Supervision issue a warrant for Miller for violating the conditions of his probation, we have learned. The effort arises from Deadline’s exclusive earlier this week that Miller had directed the DGA sanctioned film Higher Grounds last summer in Serbia, Colombia and the UK.

“I have requested Wayne County probation to issue a warrant for his arrest,” Assistant District Attorney John Johnson told Deadline on Friday. “Randall Miller has violated the terms of his probation,” the Georgia prosecutor added of Miller getting behind the camera on the Kate Nash-starring Higher Grounds. “As a director, he’s in violation.”

If after a hearing before a judge, Miller is found to have violated his probation,...

Exclusive: The parents of Sarah Jones are calling on the DGA to kick Randall Miller out of the guild after learning that he recently directed a new movie, Higher Grounds, in Serbia and Colombia last summer — this despite the special conditions of his probation after he spent a year in jail for the death of their daughter, Sarah Jones.

Jones was killed by a speeding freight train on the first and only day of shooting on the Miller-directed Midnight Rider in Georgia in 2014.

In a statement provided to Deadline tonight, Jones’ parents, Richard and Elizabeth, said that “The legal system will decide whether Mr. Miller violated the terms of his probation when he produced and directed the feature film Higher Grounds. But in our opinion he most certainly violated the moral and ethical standards that informed his court sentencing. To us, his actions were blatantly defiant and egregiously disrespectful to the entire creative community,...

Randall Miller, the director who spent a year in prison after pleading to involuntary manslaughter when camera assistant Sarah Jones was killed during production of his film “Midnight Rider,” has directed another movie — despite a clause in his plea agreement that called for a 10-year probation in which he was “prohibited from serving as director, first assistant director or supervisor with responsibility for safety in any film production.”

However, Miller is now in post production on “Higher Grounds,” a comedy centered around a barista championship, that he shot in Serbia, Colombia, and the U.K. Miller’s attorney, Richard Thompson of Brecheen Feldman Breimer Silver & Thompson, said he believed the production did not violate the terms of the plea agreement.

“Our understanding of the terms of his probation is that he’s allowed to direct as long as he’s not in charge of safety,” Thompson told IndieWire. “We were...

Exclusive: Due to ambiguity in probation documents, disgraced Midnight Rider director Randall Miller is back behind the camera and making movies – despite an involuntarily manslaughter guilty plea that many believed forbid such work for up to decade.

Deadline has learned that Miller directed the comedy Higher Grounds in Serbia and Colombia last year. The completed feature follows a vegan barista, played by Glow‘s Kate Nash, whose coffee shop is sinking, and gears up as the underdogs in the World Barista Championships. Higher Grounds was produced by Miller and his wife Jody Savin, who was also an initial defendant in the Sarah Jones death case, with charges eventually dismissed.

Jay Karandikar, Satish Karandikar, Zak Kristofek and Michael Melroy Smith are also executive producers on Higher Grounds.

Some talent reps who had their clients involved in the new movie wanted to vet Miller’s current situation to direct, we’ve learned.

Exclusive: Joyce Gilliard, the hair stylist who was seriously injured in the train accident that killed camera assistant Sarah Jones on the first day of shooting Midnight Rider in 2014, has written and produced a short film about safety on the set. The 40-minute film, Daddy’s Home, will launch on YouTube and other social media platforms on February 20 – the sixth anniversary of the accident.

Watch the trailer above.

“Daddy’s Home follows the life of a film industry crew member who loves his job but tries to juggle working consistently long hours and being home with his family, and the toll it can take if safety precautions are not taken,” Gilliard said. “It allows the viewer to understand the sacrifices many cast and crew members take to bring their favorite movies to the big screen.”

“Daddy’s Home will be the first of several short films I will produce that will bring perspective...

Like Midnight Rider’s director before her, the film’s first assistant director Hillary Schwartz asked for and was denied leniency by a Georgia court for her part in the death of her 27 year-old crew member Sarah Jones. Schwartz had motioned the court for a shortened sentence last year asking that her probation end. She was sentenced to 10 years probation in March 2015 for criminal trespass and felony involuntary manslaughter for her role in the camera assistant’s death.

The motion was heard on Dec. 18th, compelling Jones’ parents to once again travel to Superior Court Judge Anthony Harrison’s courtroom in Georgia right before their fifth Christmas without their daughter to oppose Schwartz’s motion. Sarah Jones’ father Richard Jones said at the time that it would undermine everything (the family and industry) have worked to accomplish in the wake of their daughter’s death. “We are working to change the culture of an industry,...

A settlement has been reached in the wrongful death case involving camera assistant Sarah Jones, who was killed in 2014 while filming the movie “Midnight Rider” in Georgia, the law firm representing Jones’ family announced on Wednesday.

Csx Transportation, the defendants in the case, agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to Jones’ family. Jones was struck by a train while filming “Midnight Rider” five years ago atop a live railroad trestle, prompting extra scrutiny on the safety standards enforced on movie and TV sets. During the trial, attorneys for Jones’ family argued that Csx, which owned the train that struck Jones, did not alert its trains to the crew’s presence after two trains passed the crew before the collision.

In July 2017, a jury concluded that several parties, including Csx Transportation, were guilty of negligence on set, granting the plaintiffs an $11.2 million verdict. Director Randall Miller served a year in jail...

A confidential settlement has been reached in the wrongful death civil case against Csx Transportation brought by the family of young camera assistant Sarah Jones, who was killed on the train trestle set of Midnight Rider in 2014. The settlement was revealed today by the lawyers for the Jones family.

The lawyers said that “a satisfaction of judgment” was filed on January 25 in Savannah, Ga. The case arose from the death of Jones back in February 2014, when director Randall Miller and key supervisors on the film made the decision to place their crew on a live train track. According to court documents, the train conductor from Csx had radioed that he saw something on the track, however, the next train coming did not slow down and instead plowed through the set going more than 50 mph. All of these actions resulted in the death of Jones and the injury of several more people.

Midnight Rider’s first assistant director Hillary Schwartz, who in March 2015 was sentenced to 10 years probation for criminal trespass and felony involuntary manslaughter for her role in the death of 27 year-old camera assistant Sarah Jones, this morning asked a Georgia Judge to end her probation now. The Judge has not yet ruled on the motion (read it here).

Under terms of the original sentence she was given, Schwartz would not serve any prison time, but could not be a director or assistant director. She could, however, be a producer in a capacity other than overseeing the safety of others.

The motion states that Schwartz “has been employed outside of the film industry with no intention of returning to her prior career.” Like director Randall Miller before her who asked for his court-imposed three-year supervision to be removed, she is also seeking a lighter punishment. Schwartz’s Georgia lawyer Todd Brooks...

Csx’s petition for a new trial in the case of Midnight Rider and the death of Sarah Jones has been denied by Chatham County State Court Judge Gregory V. Sapp. Csx had filed a motion for a new trial after losing a civil case this past summer to the parents of 27-year-old crew member Sarah Jones, killed on a Ga train trestle in 2014 while filming the Greg Allman biopic Midnight Rider.

“The Court disagrees with Csx’s argument that there was no evidence Csx violated the applicable standard of care,” Judge Sapp wrote in his order. “To the extent the jury found that Csx engaged in willful or wanton conduct, there is some evidence to support this finding … and there was some evidence for the jury to find that Csx employees were negligent in failing to report the trespassers or take additional precautions to avoid injuring them.”

Evidence presented...

Midnight Rider director Randall Miller, serving a sentence for involuntary manslaughter in the 2014 on-set death of 27-year-old crew member Sarah Jones, was denied having his supervision removed by the judge overseeing the case since its beginning. In his decision, dated today, Judge Anthony Harrison stated that to lift the supervision would be contrary to the intended sentence of the court. Miller’s attorneys argued that it prevented him from extensive travel and has…...

Four years and one day after the death of Sarah Jones on a Doctortown train trestle, the parents of the late Midnight Rider camera assistant are back in a Jessup, Ga courtroom fighting against a motion filed in December by the attorneys of Randall Miller. The film’s director is asking that California supervision, part of his plea agreement at his 2015 criminal trespassing and involuntary manslaughter trial, be lifted. The argument is that California law differs from…...

Exclusive: On what is the four-year mark of the death of their 27-year-old daughter Sarah Jones on a train track in Georgia for the film Midnight Rider, Richard and Elizabeth Jones are en route to a Jessup, Ga courthouse this morning, where tomorrow they will fight to keep in place the film’s director Randall Miller’s three-year supervision in California. Miller has petitioned the court to remove his supervision. While Miller will not be there, he received that probation…...

A series of stories about the chaotic set of “Bohemian Rhapsody” culminated with the announcement that 20th Century Fox has fired director Bryan Singer. Reports of Singer’s “erratic” behavior include fighting with lead actor Rami Malek, the director not showing up on set (veteran cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel reportedly stepping into the role), and after the Thanksgiving holiday, Singer disappearing completely, leaving a representative to cite a “personal health matter” concerning the director and a family member as the reason for his absence.

Read More:Bryan Singer Fired From Directing Queen Biopic After Repeatedly Disappearing From Set

All of this is set against a backdrop in which many of Hollywood’s most powerful men have been brought down by allegations of sexual harassment and assault. Hollywood is a different place than it was over a year ago, when Fox started working with Singer to develop the long-simmering biopic about Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.

Exclusive: It has been a long 4 1/2 years for Elizabeth and Richard Jones since the death of their 27-year-old daughter Sarah Jones on the set of Midnight Rider. The shock of the loss was followed by a criminal investigation, an Osha investigation, a criminal trial, director Randall Miller’s surprising release from jail after only a year (and the news coming around the holidays), the civil proceedings, the filmmaker’s obstinate nature and public outcry, the death of Gregg…...

According to Variety, a jury in Georgia has ruled in favor of the family of Sarah Jones in their civil suit against transportation company Csx and production company Film Allman, with a judge awarding the family $11.2 million. Jones was the camera assistant who was killed on the set of Midnight Rider when a Csx train drove through the film’s set and crashed into a prop bed that had been set up on the tracks, with the lawsuit alleging the production company and Csx both could’ve done a lot more to prevent Jones’ death—particularly since the filmmakers didn’t have permission to be working on the train tracks at the time of the incident. In March of 2015, Midnight Rider director Randall Miller was sentenced to two years in prison (a sentence he has already completed), forced to pay a $20,000 fine, and was essentially ...

The family of the Sarah Jones, a camera assistant killed while working on the Gregg Allman biopic “Midnight Rider,” was awarded $11.2 million Monday in a civil suit over her death. Jurors determined that railways company Csx Transportation bore the largest part of the responsibility. Jones, 27, was killed in 2014 during the filming of a dream sequence in which William Hurt, playing Allman, occupied a hospital bed on a live railroad trestle above the Altamaha River near Doctortown, Georgia. Director Randall Miller served a year in jail after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing. The case led to the Safety for Sarah movement,...

The trial between Sarah Jones’ family and railroad company Csx has come to an end. The jury has found Csx liable in the death of the 27-year-old camera assistant. Jones’ family has won $11.2 million, including $2M for pain and suffering and over $9M for economic losses. Jones was killed and six others were injured after a 2014 accident on the set of “Midnight Rider” outside Doctortown, Georgia.

The incident occurred on February 20, 2014. Producers on the movie assured cast and crew that filming a scene on a railroad trestle above the Altamaha River was safe, but a train came speeding down the tracks at 58 mph during production, giving the crew less than one minute to evacuate the location. The train ran into a metal bed being used by the crew and Jones was struck by shrapnel that propelled her toward the moving train.

Jones’ family sued Csx, claiming they did not follow...

Richard and Elizabeth Jones took the stand today in the third day of their civil trial against railroad company Csx, which they have sued for negligence for the 2014 death of their daughter Sarah Jones. Jones, a 27 year-old camera assistant, who was killed on the set of the Greg Allman biopic Midnight Rider. Richard Jones acknowledged on the stand today that Midnight Rider director Randall Miller and the supervising crew did trespass to set up a scene on a Georgia train…...

Film Allman has lost big in a ruling concerning insurer New York Marine who had settled with the family of Sarah Jones, the 27-year-old camera assistant killed on the set after Randall Miller put his crew on live train tracks. Film Allman, last month, filed a motion saying that the FBI was investigating whether Miller’s civil rights had been violated and whether he had been properly incarcerated — a move that was seen as a desperate attempt to positively affect the…...

A California federal judge has dealt a blow to the producer of the abandoned Gregg Allman biopic Midnight Rider, handing a summary judgment victory to New York Marine and General Insurance Company and shrugging off news of an FBI investigation.

Due to a tragic accident on a railway trestle bridge in Georgia on Feb. 20, 2014, killing camera assistant Sarah Jones, production of the film was suspended with director Randall Miller prosecuted amid a flurry of lawsuits. Film Allman, LLC, then sued the insurer and claimed that "New York Marine sabotaged the Film, the very thing that it agreed to insure and protect...

Although two attorneys for Midnight Rider director Randall Miller have submitted affidavits that there is an open FBI investigation into “probable civil rights violations” and “the possible wrongful prosecution and incarceration of Mr. Miller,” many of the key players involved in the criminal trespassing and involuntary manslaughter trial that put Miller behind bars have, to date, not been contacted by anyone from the FBI. The introduction of the FBI into the mix come…...

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is actively investigating whether Randall Miller, director of the ill-fated Gregg Allman biopic Midnight Rider, was wrongfully prosecuted and incarcerated for his alleged role in the death of 27-year-old camera operator Sarah Jones. That's according to new court documents filed by Film Allman, still battling its insurance company for millions of dollars over a production that was suspended when the film crew set up on a railway trestle bridge train in Georgia only to flee upon the arrival of a train barreling forward at an estimated 57 miles per hour.

After the fatal accident on Feb. 20, 2014, prosecutors in Georgia charged Miller, who...

A Los Angeles federal judge has denied a motion by Film Allman and the producers of the ill-fated Midnight Rider movie that would have forced their insurance carrier to cover losses associated with the project despite their criminal negligence. Camera assistant Sarah Jones was struck and killed by a speeding freight train on the film in 2014 while the cast and crew were shooting a scene on a Georgia railroad trestle. Director Randall Miller spent a year in jail for…...

The oft-told story about what happened during production of the Gregg Allman biopic Midnight Rider on Feb. 20, 2014 is that the film crew, having been denied permission to shoot on Wayne County, Ga. train tracks, entered private property anyway and a subsequent train collision killed camera assistant Sarah Jones and left other crewmembers injured. But what if the filmmakers weren't denied permission? It obviously wouldn't change the tragic fact that Jones couldn't get away from a train barreling forward at an estimated 57 miles per hour, but does it cast a different light on Midnight Rider director Randall Miller and others involved in the film

read more...

New York Marine and General Insurance Company is looking to disclaim any payment responsibility for what happened on Feb. 20, 2014, when during the shooting of the Gregg Allman biopic Midnight Rider in Georgia, a train collision killed camera assistant Sarah Jones and left other crewmembers injured. On Wednesday, the insurer filed a summary judgment motion that argues that it doesn't have to cover losses resulting from criminal acts. Film Allman LLC, the Midnight Rider production company, has brought a lawsuit against New York Marine for allegedly breaching contract and good faith. Although Midnight Rider director Randall Miller pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter, the

read more...

Update, 4:03 Pm: Richard Jones, father of Sarah Jones – the 27-year-old camera assistant killed two years ago on the Georgia set of Randall Miller’s Midnight Rider – tells Deadline he would like a face-to-face meeting with German filmmaker Werner Herzog in response to the director’s comments that he teaches students “rogue” filmmaking techniques. Jones will be in Los Angeles next month for a September 25 Safety For Sarah walkathon, kicking off at the Santa Monica Pier, to…...

After two failed attempts at early release, Midnight Rider director Randall Miller has been released from jail after serving just half of his original sentence, according to reports. Miller was granted early release on Wednesday following just over a year behind bars in Wayne County, Georgia, Variety reports. The director reportedly took a plea deal last year, which required he plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing in connection with the on-set death of camera assistant Sarah Jones, 27, and injury of eight others. Although the deal originally mandated Miller spend two years in custody, a judge adjusted the sentence...

After two failed attempts at early release, Midnight Rider director Randall Miller has been released from jail after serving just half of his original sentence, according to reports. Miller was granted early release on Wednesday following just over a year behind bars in Wayne County, Georgia, Variety reports. The director reportedly took a plea deal last year, which required he plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing in connection with the on-set death of camera assistant Sarah Jones, 27, and injury of eight others. Although the deal originally mandated Miller spend two years in custody, a judge adjusted the sentence...