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As California sees steadily rising COVID-19 case numbers, Governor Gavin Newsom is very carefully rolling back restrictions. Some of his critics argue that he’s being too careful, however. Memorial Day has now come and gone without Newsom’s promised update on guidelines for film and TV production. Cinephiles and studios alike are getting worried.
California, one of the world’s biggest economies, is home to Hollywood. As anyone who has ever watched a movie knows, the vast majority of film and TV is produced in Hollywood.
With the state still observing lockdowns to stem the spread of COVID-19, however, production has been halted on nearly all filming. This is causing many studios to become nervous. There will be numerous delayed projects due to the long production interruption.
Needless to say, people in California are getting a little frustrated with having to only drink home brew coffee and stay indoors all day. While people in the state generally understand that the lockdowns are for public health, they’ve been in place for over two months. People are getting antsy.
On Memorial Day, Governor Newsom outlined new guidelines that allow for houses of worship to resume normal activity. Likewise, there are new outlines for how malls in the state can reopen, following the lengthy closures. This marks the first time in months that shoppers can enter stores rather than just doing curb-side pickup.
However, the film and TV industries are anxiously awaiting news on how they can proceed with production.
Newsom himself said he would take Memorial Day to introduce new guidelines for filming in the state. Industry insiders met the announcement with surprise, as they had no idea the governor was targeting Memorial Day to lay out his new plans. Unfortunately for studios, however, Monday came and went with no announcement from the governor.
According to Deadline, an industry insider remarked, “This was prematurely announced with little buy-in from interested parties, so no surprise it didn’t happen as planned, is it?”
Since the lockdown measures began in March, there has been no shortage of entertainment to watch from home. With the lockdown dragging over months, however, this could change soon.
With nothing new being filmed for months at a time, there will come a point when there simply is no new content. Even after lockdowns lift, Hollywood will still be months behind schedule. It’ll take some time for things to recover from the shake-up.
