When Ben Gottlieb posted on Instagram about burning out from long hours at his job as a set lighting technician in the film industry, he didn’t expect many people to take notice. “As restrictions were being lifted” in recent months, he wrote, “pre lockdown hours became the norm again. I don’t necessarily think it’s anyone’s specific fault, I just think a lot of us got a taste of what life could be like if we got normal hours, if we could come home and spend time with family or friends for a few hours before going to bed.”

But thousands of people responded to the post and began sending him their own stories of overwork in the film industry, leading Gottlieb to set up an account dedicated to anonymously sharing others’ stories. The anecdotes are jarring, with people recounting working in subzero temperatures, receiving texts from their bosses while in the hospital about whether they’ll be on set the next day, and, above all, enduring long hours.

“A standard working week for us, not including travel time, is about sixty hours,” explains Gottlieb. “In the electric department where you have wrap outs, packing the truck, and cleaning up cable, I’m out of the house fifteen hours a day for a twelve-hour-day shoot.”