As of June 12, movie production in Hollywood will be allowed to resume. But the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will still be felt as actors get back into character.
Not only will social distancing be required, but sexual distancing will also be the name of the game as well.
A leaked 22-page document authored by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, a group comprised of Hollywood studios, as well as Dr. Daniel Uslan, an infectious disease specialist at UCLA Medical Center, contains a list of guidelines that affect everyone working on a set.
According to the document, “close contact moments” like romantic interludes or sex scenes should “either be rewritten, abandoned or CGI (computer-based imagery) fixes them.”
The guidelines also advise that any fight scenes be reconsidered.
In addition to the new rules for on-screen action, crew members will have to wear protective gear onset and every set will have to have a ‘coronavirus compliance officer’ present. Minors who might be overactive are to be relocated to off-set locations, and it’s suggested that actors and crew members keep petting animal actors to a minimum.
TV shows will continue to broadcast without live audiences present. Plus, casting directors will be required to conduct auditions behind plexiglass barriers.
Production in Hollywood came to an abrupt halt in mid-March as the coronavirus health threat spread across the country. Since then, several TV talk shows have turned to CGI for more creative backgrounds as hosts broadcast from their homes during the shelter-at-home orders in California.
