California may have lifted restrictions on film production, but most movies and shows won’t start shooting for weeks.
Film and television production may be able to resume in California on June 12, but major studios are still weeks — if not months — away from rolling cameras.
Before shooting can start or resume on movies and TV shows, the various labor unions that represent everyone from the grips to the actors to the directors, have to sign off on safety procedures for how sets should operate in the age of coronavirus. Nearly 200 people from across the entertainment industry were involved in drafting a white paper outlining new safety protocols that range from increasing testing and temperature tests to quarantining casts and crews. Insiders predict that the final sign-off on those plans is between four to six weeks away.
“For the major film productions and a handful of premium TV shows, this pandemic was like tranquilizing an elephant,” said one top film studio executive, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “We’re not going to be able to stand up right away.”
Even if the government declares that sets can re-open in Los Angeles, the movie and television business has become so global in scope that sources at the studios believe it will take time before most productions resume. In Los Angeles, Warner Bros. was half-way through shooting “King Richard,” the story of Richard Williams, father and coach of tennis players Venus and Serena Williams, which stars Will Smith. Some of the major tennis scenes still have to shoot.
Television shows with live studio audiences, such as late-night programs, could start filming on sound stages in the coming weeks after doing lo-fi versions that were shot in the homes of hosts such as Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel.
