Countless youngsters attempting to claw their way into the film business will gladly work for free, and a lawsuit filed in federal court accuses the production of the film Black Swan of exploiting those masses. Two men who worked on the movie claim the film broke labor laws by hiring more than 100 interns to do work that should have been handled by paid employees.

According to The New York Times, the suit says the interns filled all manner of crucial roles in the making of the movie, ranging from production assistants to administrative and janitorial work. The movie grossed $329 million globally on a $13 million production budget.

Federal law forbids companies from gaining immediate advantages from the unpaid interns’ work or replacing regular employees with the students. Seeking class-action status, the suit is going after back pay and an injunction stopping the studio from improperly using unpaid interns.

A spokesman for the movie’s studio, Fox Searchlight, said the organization could not comment on the lawsuit because it had yet to review it.

Interns, Unpaid By a Studio, File Suit [The New York Times via Deadline]

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