A Los Angeles cameraman who suffered a spinal cord injury while on a New Mexico movie set has been awarded more than $66 million in a lawsuit, among the largest settlements in the state's history, a news outlet reported.
The Santa Fe New Mexican quoted Jame Razo as saying that the jury's decision Friday was "a huge emotional relief."
"I can finally begin my healing journey," he said in a phone interview Tuesday, the newspaper reported.
The 55-year-old was a cameraman on the set of "Only the Brave," a film about elite firefighters starring Josh Brolin and Jeff Bridges, in June 2016. He was driving a mobile camera crane unit, which weighs over 3,000 pounds (1,361 kilograms) when fully loaded, up a steep road on Pajarito Mountain in the Pajarito Ski Area near Los Alamos, when the unit tipped over and fell on him, the newspaper reported.
Razo suffered crush injuries that left several areas of his body severely damaged. Since then, he has had over 1,000 medical appointments and nearly a dozen surgeries, according to the report.
In the suit, Razo says producers were negligent by denying him time to scout the terrain first or install tank treads on the vehicle.
It took a jury four hours to decide that Razo should receive $24.6 million in damages and his wife $6 million. In addition, production companies Black Label Media and No Exit Film are liable for $27 million and $9 million in punitive damages, respectively.
Attorneys for the California-based production companies did not respond to messages from the newspaper seeking comment.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More