Crew death renews concerns over film set safety amid COVID-19

The death of a 51-year-old assistant director who lost a battle with COVID-19 last week after returning to work on a commercial shoot has heightened concerns about the safety of film sets. The assistant director’s death has ignited debate on social media about the safety of returning to film sets, according to John Elmore, a 20-year veteran assistant director and colleague of Nolan’s. “If any good can come from John’s passing, it would be for the production side of our industry to be more mindful this COVID thing is still out there waiting for us,” said Ben Ketai, a Los Angeles-based film and television director who worked with Nolan for several years on his TV show “StartUp” that first aired in 2016 on the streaming video service Crackle. “ Nolan had worked on television shows such as “L.A.‘s Finest” and the upcoming movie “The Paper Tigers.” He was a second assistant director, with his son as a production assistant, on a six-day ad shoot for insurance company State Farm from July 9 to 16, according to Santa Monica-based production company Tool of North America. “We are saddened to learn of the passing of a crew member from Tool of North America,” State Farm spokesperson Gina Morss- Fischer said.