Nine and a half months after all Hollywood production ended at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States, filming in Los Angeles is once again stalled.
Film and TV production was exempt from coronavirus restrictions and continued after the current order to stay at home was instituted in early December. But in the midst of an unprecedented increase in coronavirus infections and Covid-19 deaths in Los Angeles County, the vast majority of TV studios and streamers have postponed January production for one or more weeks.
Longer term
Like its traditional media counterparts, Netflix also hit the pause button on its LA-based productions, which were scheduled to start shooting this week, at least until mid-January. This includes sitcom Family meeting, who has been recording his second season without a live audience at Paramount Studios – Gower, as well as several unscripted shows and additional photographs for Netflix movies.
While Netflix’s move is surfacing today, the streamer has been working on the decision for the past few weeks. Last month, Netflix started producing The Gray Man, starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans, his biggest budget sustaining film so far, from mid-January to at least the end of January due to the growing number of Covid cases. Ava DuVernay limited series Colin in black and white, which is not scheduled to start shooting until mid-January, remains on track for now, along with the next limited series Real story, starring Kevin Hart and Wesley Snipes, also currently maintaining its production start date later this month.
Other studios that extended their series’ production getaways in LA or postponed the start of production in January include CBS Studios, Warner Bros. TV, Universal TV, Sony Pictures TV, Lionsgate TV and Disney TV Studios’ ABC Signature and 20th Television. To do this, the producers reviewed the logistics involved, including the availability of talent and whether the cast and crew would be paid for additional downtime.
Production shutdowns are expensive and a delay of a few weeks could disrupt the series’ delivery dates and continuous display.
The studios are responding to an appeal from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, which last week urged the film and TV industry to consider pausing production for a few weeks during the steady increase in coronavirus cases across the county. . In addition, SAG-AFTRA and the Producers Guild recommended yesterday that commercial production on the set be temporarily closed in Southern California because of the sudden increase, with immediate effect.
“Southern California hospitals are facing a crisis like we’ve never seen before,” said SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris. “Patients are dying in ambulances waiting for treatment because the hospital’s emergency rooms are full. This is not a safe environment for personal production right now. “
The suspension of live production also extended to talk shows. Los Angeles-based CBS ‘ The Late Late Show and Jimmy Kimmel Live! started shooting remotely from today, while Ellen DeGeneres The program extended its hiatus for a week.
Over the weekend, LA County passed 800,000 coronavirus cases – with almost half of the cases reported last month. The transmission rate in the community is so high that 21% of all Covid tests are positive.
According to the LA county health department, the current 7-day average daily case is about 15,000, leading to gloomy projections – the number of hospitalized Covid patients is likely to increase from about 7,600 now to up to 9,000 per day in two weeks and we could see a weekly death toll of 1000 or more. With the county’s ICU capacity at 0%, the request for a regional home stay for Southern California was extended last week to January 16.
With Covid’s strict security protocols and rigorous testing, the TV series successfully produced new episodes during the pandemic. But with the new massive wave of infections sweeping the United States, with California emerging as the epicenter, the number of Covid outbreaks in active production was increasing before all shows went on vacation in mid-December. Family meeting it was among the series that recorded positive Covid tests a month ago, but remained in production.
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