Hollywood is back — just not as we know it

Live studio audiences are discouraged. Sex and fight scenes will look different, too.

Photo by Valery Sharifulin\TASS via Getty Images

Hollywood is back — just not as we know it

After months of at-home premieres, production pushbacks, and financial strain, Hollywood is eager to return to normal. California gave the green light for studios to resume filming June 12 – with some caveats.

COVID-19 puts the clamps on PG-13

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers teamed up with Hollywood’s major players on safety recommendations to reduce the risk of transmission. Here are some highlights:

  • Limits on sex and fight scenes. “Contact must be kept to the shortest amount of time possible,” the recommendations say, because of the increased risks these scenes pose. (Thank God Game of Thrones ended last year, that would have been a disaster.) 
  • Live studio audiences are discouraged. Producers might have to cue up the laugh track.
  • Actors should do their own makeup and costumes. Can you imagine Adam Sandler dressing himself?
  • Shorter workdays. This could put a big strain on budgets as 2-day shoots stretch to 2 weeks.

Just like the pandemic, the restrictions are global

The Producers Guild of India released guidelines that limit some of Bollywood’s favorite tropes – no more epic dance numbers or larger-than-life wedding scenes. And no actor above the age of 65 is allowed to film.

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