With the unprecedented situation that studios around the world find themselves in, courtesy of the COVID-19 pandemic, no one really knows how TV and film productions will get back up and running. While in the US, non-essential businesses seem to be on track to reopen by the summertime, it’s unclear if big film and TV sets will be back by then, and if so, what that will look like. But according to a new report, Warner Bros TV presidents Susan Rovner and Brett Paul think that there will be a lot of fundamental changes.
Variety is reporting that Rovner and Paul were recently on a conference call with “showrunners, executive producers and line producers, as well as by people from production companies with whom WBTV and Warner Horizon has deals.” Over the course of that call, the two executives began talking about what might change as productions begin to ramp up. And we’re talking about some pretty big changes.
Perhaps the biggest changes come from the fact that productions are likely to begin well before a COVID-19 vaccine is available, leading to hesitation from actors and creators about close contact during scenes, especially when it comes to sex scenes and stunt work.
“We believe we’re going to need a plan for limited physical contact between actors,” and “intimate scenes may need to be reimagined or even reconceived,” said Rovner.
As far as stunt work goes, the executives said that large-scale stunts that don’t involve physical contact will likely be okay, but stunts involving actors and doubles being within close proximity, specifically stunts that are “hand to hand, face to face, requiring physical contact,” would probably have to be written out.
In addition, there are more logistical issues, such as air travel and shooting in foreign countries that will likely have to be thought out and planned for, with some actors probably not comfortable zipping around the world on airplanes.
Clearly, no one knows exactly which rules will be put in place, but if studios want to get production on TV shows and films up and running as quickly as possible, there are definite changes to how business is done that will have to be made. We’ll just have to see how this affects studios such as WBTV, which is the company behind the entire Arrowverse superhero slate on CW, “Westworld,” and various other stunt-heavy series.