The ‘GrubHub' for LA's hungry: Bringing the film industry's excess food to people in need

CNN

5 days ago

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While Hollywood actors may be the face of the film and television industry, teams of professionals work behind the scenes, bringing each cinematic story to life through disciplines like lighting, costumes and set design.
For 15 years, Hillary Cohen was one of them, working as an assistant director on TV shows like 'Mad Men,' 'The Office,' and 'NCIS: Los Angeles.' One of the perks she enjoyed were the crew meals provided on set – gourmet, chef-prepared food like steak and seafood.
But she'd long been troubled by what happened to the leftovers.
'They would just throw it out,' said Cohen, 40. 'I was always told, 'We can't donate the food. … It's too hard. If someone gets sick, it's a liability.''
While the federal Good Samaritan Act has protected most food donors since 1996, what Cohen witnessed was a long-accepted practice on sets throughout the industry. Eventually, frustration with the situation drove her to start Every Day Action, a nonprofit that picks up extra food from film sets and other businesses and delivers it to communities in need around Los Angeles. Since 2020, the group estimates it has redistributed more than 270,000 meals.
'We're the GrubHub,' she said. 'We take it from point A to point B.'
For years, Cohen had a solution in mind about how to distribute surplus food from sets to people in need, but her 16-hour workdays didn't give her much opportunity to pursue it. The Covid-19 pandemic changed that, bringing the film industry to a screeching halt. At first, Cohen threw herself into mask making – she sewed more than 5,000 masks – but in the summer of 2020 she realized she could use this time to turn her vision for rescuing food into reality.
'I'd been saying for a long time that someone should do something about this, and no one had done it,' she said. 'So, I realized … maybe I'll just try.'
She called Samantha Luu, a colleague who was also deeply bothered by the issue, and together they got to work. Neither had any nonprofit experience, but as assistant directors – roles that deal with logistics and scheduling – they were used to figuring things out on the fly.
They got liability insurance, enabling them to fully release companies of any legal responsibility for donating food. Then, as work resumed, they reached out to their contacts to put their idea into action. As industry insiders familiar with production, they knew how to alleviate management's concerns and pick up the food quickly and discretely.
'We speak their language,' Cohen said. 'I always say, 'We don't care about Martin Scorsese, we just care about your mashed potatoes.''
At first, Cohen and Luu made most of the pickups themselves with the help of volunteers. But when they went back to work, that became unmanageable. As a result, they developed their Film Industry Driver Program, which pays a day rate that covers a stipend and gas to employees like production assistants and background actors for their help. For Cohen, this just made sense: The nonprofit gets 'set savvy' professionals to make pickups, and those with the lowest paid positions in the industry earn some extra money.
'It's a way (for them) to find work in between jobs. It's a shifting schedule, so it's hard to find anywhere else to work,' she said. 'To me, it's just this circle: Reduce waste by using the people in Hollywood … (to help) these people who don't have food.'
While Cohen and Luu still make pickups occasionally, most of their time is now spent coordinating logistics. All drivers are trained and given safety vests equipped with an alarm, along with a sign for their vehicle. Food is transported in thermal bags that keep it at a safe temperature.
For Stephen Faust, an executive chef who has worked in on-set catering for more than 20 years, the group provides an easy solution to a problem that always bothered him.
'For decades, it broke my heart to throw food away, so we're happy to do it,' Faust said. 'It's just like clockwork. They show up, we pass off the food, and we're all set.'
The group picks up meals 24 hours a day, seven days a week from five to 10 locations per day, covering an estimated 90-mile radius in Los Angeles. The food is distributed to shelters, food pantries, nonprofits, community fridges, and homeless encampments.
When the writer's strike in 2023 brought production to a stop once again, Cohen and Luu pivoted and built connections with grocery stores, companies, and other venues.
'I'm a high stakes problem solver,' Cohen said. 'In this business, you often hit a roadblock and have to figure out a new plan, so we just approach every day that way.'
While their services are free, they strongly encourage locations to make a $50 donation per pickup to help pay the drivers and offset the cost of gas. After working on this effort for nearly four years without pay, much of that time juggling their industry jobs, Cohen and Luu now do this work full-time, earning small part-time salaries.
While Cohen isn't sure she's done with working in the film industry, for now her focus is on Every Day Action: connecting the dots – one set, one meal, one person at a time.
'I feel like my skillset is called to do this,' she said. 'Now more than ever, we have to help each other.'
Want to get involved? Check out the Every Day Action website and see how to help.
To donate to Every Day Action via Pledge, click here