Hollywood is reopening with detailed new rules for productions amid COVID-19

Hollywood’s unions have published a detailed breakdown of guidelines that television and film productions will be expected to follow in coming months as the industry works to get back on its feet after a three-month COVID-19 pandemic shutdown. “People in the industry can take great comfort from the report,” said Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s chief operating officer and general counsel, who is leading the union’s safety and reopening initiative, in an interview. “What’s laid out here from our unions, representing the vast majority of people directly involved in production, are guidelines that we believe can be — and will be — practically implemented.” The question remains how producers will manage the increased costs and time scale necessary to implement the changes. “We knew the only way forward was to consult with leading medical experts and let science guide us to the right approach for our unique work environments.” Movies ‘Contagion’ director Steven Soderbergh on Hollywood reopening: ‘We’re going to get back to work’ Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh on the eerie predictive powers of his 2011 pandemic procedural ‘Contagion’ and the plans underway to get Hollywood back to work. “What the Zone System tries to limit is the possibility that someone contracts COVID-19 while at work, but it should be understood that as long as the cast and crew are going home at night and on the weekends, they are open to contagion, which is what all the testing is for.” The report also notes that unions have been advised by health specialists that “testing scarcity will be resolved in the near future.” The testing recommendations are based on models provided by Jeffrey Shaman, an environmental health scientist at Columbia University.