coronavirus

Hollywood's COVID Pandemic Disruption Storyline Desperately Needs a Rewrite

From production through exhibition, every level of the film industry has been upended by the coronavirus. Creative minds are finding a way

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There's a lot to figure out across the entire film business. An industry that prizes creativity, however, is coming up with innovative ways to adapt, NBC News reports.

In the last six months, almost every facet of Hollywood from production through exhibition has ground to a halt, an economic setback unprecedented in cinematic history. This is a business, after all, for which social distancing is a more alien concept than something out of a sci-fi flick — think of the crowded sets on big-budget blockbusters to the packed movie theaters where those movies are screened.

Even as COVID-19 cases tick up in California, television and film production is slowly restarting, avoiding another such "snap" even though California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered a second lockdown on July 13. This time around, people in the industry are considered essential workers.

California can't afford the alternative: Bell says the industry supports more than 700,000 jobs that account for $16 billion in wages in the state.

A task force dubbed the Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee formed by the studios and major film unions consulted medical experts to produce a 22-page white paper submitted in June on the protocols productions would need to proceed safely.

Read the full story on NBCNews.com

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