Stephen Amell Amplifies Fundraiser For Family Of ‘Arrow’ Crew Member Who Died By Suicide During Strike

Dominic Patten
·4 min read
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“Dave McLean became not only a friend, but family to me during our eight seasons together on Arrow,” Stephen Amell says of The CW superhero series crew member who took his own life on October 9. “It hurts to lose such a vibrant spirit to struggles with mental health.”

Vancouver-based genny operator McLean was a member of the Lighting and Electrical department during the Greg Berlanti- and Marc Guggenheim-EP’d series’ 2012-20 run. Just days after his 50th birthday, the father of two disappeared from his British Columbia home. His family reported him missing on October 13. His body was discovered on October 21.

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Launched just before Thanksgiving, a GoFundMe appeal has been coordinated by Amell and the McLean family. The campaign has raised just under CDN $30,000 of their CDN$50,000 goal so far (about US$22,100 and $36,800), as you can see here.

Amell took to social media earlier this week to amplify the effort to raise funds for the McLean family. “Dave is gone far too soon, for reasons that are entirely preventable,” the actor stated, noting that “any donation helps, sharing this post helps because mental health is something we should all be discussing.”

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“Dave was our shelter during life’s adversities, but the weight of his struggles ultimately proved overwhelming,” his wife Linnea McLean wrote late last month on the GoFundMe page for her family. “Now, as we navigate this difficult time, I find myself starting anew, grappling with the challenges of being a single parent after major surgery and attempting to provide emotional support to our children as they grieve.

“In this time of adversity, we humbly reach out for support,” Linnea McLean went on to say. “Any assistance provided will help bridge the gap between this challenging present and the hope for a more stable future. We remain forever grateful for the compassion and generosity extended to our family during this difficult period.”

Along with Arrow, McLean worked on Lucifer, Nancy Drew, The A-Team, The Mighty Ducks pilot and a number of other projects over the years.

“Dave and this issue are dear to my heart and hope that if there is anyone struggling to speak with someone because these struggles do not define you,” Amell told Deadline on Tuesday. “On the Arrow set, we cultivated an environment that felt like a family, and it hurts to lose one of them. The intention of this GoFundMe is for Dave’s wife, Linnea, and their children to help them heal and recover.”

With a loss of over $6.5 billion to California’s economy and more than 45,000 entertainment industry jobs lost, the production and financial toll of the nearly six-month-long strikes have been well documented. With bitter battle lines drawn even before the WGA went on strike in early May and SAG-AFTRA followed in July, the personal costs have been addressed less frequently.

Bringing in around CDN$5 billion a year (US$3.68 billion), film and TV production in British Columbia is estimated to employ almost 90,000 directly and indirectly. With shows like NBC’s The Irrational and until fairly recently most of the CW’s primetime lineup shot in Vancouver, about 85% of Hollywood North’s production comes from U.S. shows and projects. That means Vancouver studios and production offices basically became ghost towns during the strikes.

In addition to McLean, at least three or four individuals in Vancouver’s production community took their own lives during the strikes. Their deaths have been linked — at least in part — to stress from months of unemployment due to the prolonged work stoppage. Several below-the-line folks in Los Angeles also died by suicide as a consequence of the effects from the strikes, sources sadly tell me. SAG-AFTRA National and New York Board member Joseph Melendez died in September at his own hand, though it is unclear if the strikes played a role in his case.

As is usual in such cases overall, the number of people cited likely is under-representative of the truth of those who took their own lives.

If you or someone you know are struggling with mental health issues, please contact the Motion Picture & Television Fund here, the Behind the Scenes Fund here or the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation here for confidential assistance.

Katie Campione contributed to this report

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