Hollywood is the most glamorous place on earth. Except when it comes to unpaid internships: They are just as shitty there as everywhere else.

A couple guys are suing Fox Searchlight Productions, claiming they were exploited during the production of "Black Swan." Basically, they claim that the studio used them as free unpaid labor. One plaintiff found that his duties were mostly coffee-related:

One plaintiff, Alex Footman, a 2009 graduate of Wesleyan University who majored in film studies, said he worked as a production intern on "Black Swan" in New York from October 2009 to February 2010. He said his responsibilities included preparing coffee for the production office, ensuring that the coffee pot was full, taking and distributing lunch orders for the production staff, taking out the trash and cleaning the office.

But you're fetching coffee for beautiful movie stars! People would probably pay for the opportunity: Win the chance to spread cream cheese on Natalie Portman's bagel: all proceeds benefit St. Jude's children hospital. This is America, where exploiting young people via unpaid internships, thus cutting out anyone who isn't rich or well-connected, is a time-honored tradition. If you want to make money as an intern in Hollywood you'll have to draw on some old-fashioned American ingenuity and start a side-racket selling pieces of garbage you pick out of celebrities' dressing room trash on eBay.

[NYT]