Professionals in Louisiana’s film industry are available to help in the recovery process from the historic flood. President of Film Production Capital, Will French, says the state’s film industry is down 85%, which means carpenters, electricians, plumbers, and other skilled workers are unemployed.

“We have literally thousands of people with marketable skills and trades who are looking for work right now, and they very much want to be part of this recover and rebuilding process,” French said.

French says this is a way to help both flood victims and film industry workers. He says unless these people get work, they could leave the state to work on film projects in Georgia or California.

“What we really want is for our workers to stay here and be a part of the film industry, but they need something to do in the meantime, and this presents a very nice opportunity for local workers to help local victims,” French said.

French says it’s not just people, they have resources too. He says one catering truck on a film set can serve 5,000 meals a day, and there are currently four catering trucks sitting idle in Louisiana. He says they don’t want to see a repeat of what happened after Katrina.

“They went out and found workers from around the country because they assumed that there was not an available workforce in Louisiana, and frankly at that time, there wasn’t, but there is now,” French said.

French says people who want to work and companies looking for employees can email film.helping.la@gmail.com.

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