LOS ANGELES — After getting shut down by coronavirus, the entertainment industry is ready to make a comeback under strict guidelines. The new rules could change the types of movies and shows Hollywood can produce.
“Production restarting is going to be a monster of a task, “ says Variety magazine's Elizabeth Wagmeister. She says the entertainment industry's return is subject to new, lengthy union rules.
Hollywood guidelines:
- Going forward, all cast and crew will be tested for COVID-19 up to three times a week.
- Actors will remain as distanced as possible in scenes with masks required for anyone on set.
- Every set will be closed to the public, with live audiences discouraged.
All that could leave Hollywood having to come up with new ways to tell stories. "I believe that content will look different because the writers are going to have to rewrite to make sure that people can be as distant as possible," Wagmeister says.
After months with no roles to play, actor Mike Capozzi is ready to get back to work. "I'm more than comfortable now. Everyone seems to be so aware and cautious that I have no fear," he says.
Capozzi is among the legion of workers in Hollywood sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic, who now have the green light to continue production. Capozzi, who plans to film a screenplay he wrote later this summer, is now considering even more measures on his set. "We're a smaller production, but we're considering doing what a lot of other larger productions are doing and quarantining the cast and crew together," he says.
The guidelines are necessary changes to ensure the show can safely go on.
Industry experts expect the restrictions in Hollywood to remain in place until a vaccine or effective treatment for the coronavirus is available.