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As Los Angeles Restarts TV and Film Production; Safety Protocols For Scenes, Studios, and Audiences Revealed

Photo: JPI

Today, Los Angeles County can begin film and television production under the guidelines and regulations set forth during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

The news of the restart comes with some harsh news that on Thursday, L.A. County’s Department of Public Health reported 1,857 new confirmed coronavirus cases.  However, while it was the largest single-day number of new cases announced by the county during the pandemic, health officials said about 600 of those cases were the result of a backlog in the reporting of test results. As well, the city of Long Beach and Pasadena, have their own health departments, combined to confirm an additional 84 cases. That gave the county 1,941 new confirmed cases.

In a statement from Universal Filmed Entertainment Group Chairman Donna Langley who was part of the Entertainment Industry Task Force on the protocols, she expressed on Thursday:“Today’s release of safety protocols for film and television production marks a significant step in getting our industry back to work in Los Angeles County. On behalf of all us at NBCUniversal, we thank the County Board of Supervisors and Mayor Garcetti for their continued commitment to the economic recovery of our region, and the County Public Health Department for their tireless efforts to help protect the health of our community. Teams across the Studios, production companies, guilds, and unions in every facet of our business have shown, and will continue to show, innovation and creativity in bringing film, television and digital production safely back to Los Angeles.”

In terms of your favorite soaps returning and what they may look like when production does begin again, here is what we know thus far via Deadline.

As to what rules and regulations performers, crew, producers and show would have to follow; some of these are noted below:

–  All shared clothing, wigs, prosthetics and equipment must be disinfected before reuse.
– In offices and editing areas, workstations much be at least 6 feet apart.
– Breaks must be staggered to allow for social distancing, and they must be frequent to allow for hand washing.
– Eating is prohibited anywhere beyond designated areas to ensure cast and crew wear masks as much as possible.
– Each worker should have their own tools (and not share them) whenever possible.
– Date, time and participants in all production sessions must be recorded to allow for contact tracing.
– Productions requiring audiences must sit those in attendance at least 6 feet apart.
– Where possible, all workspaces shall have one-directional traffic to limit close contact.
– Production units or meetings should be broken down into the smallest feasible groups.
– All scripts, contracts or music sheets should be shared digitally or individually assigned to each worker.
– Sets, production spaces and the entire facility must be cleaned daily, with restrooms and other high traffic areas cleaned more frequently.
– All trucks and other vehicles must de disinfected after each use.

Photo: JPI

In terms of the shooting of scenes”

–  Health checks for all vendors and employees when they arrive on set
– All cast must wash and sanitize their hands before each scene and not touch their face.
– Large crowd scenes should be avoided.
– All location filming must occur between the hours of 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., whenever possible.
– All cast and crew should stay on location during filming, even during breaks.
– Locations should be completely secure to prevent public access.
– In permitting, productions that consist of entirely virtual/remote filming and recording should be prioritized when possible.
– Small closed indoor spaces without proper ventilation should not be used.
– Hands-on assistance with wardrobe, hair and makeup should only be provided when cast cannot do it themselves.
– Cast and crew involved must sanitize their hands before each hands-on styling or wardrobe session.
– Actors should stay as silent as possible during the application of makeup.

As for food and drinks on set:

– No buffets.
– No communal beverage service, such as coffee pots
– All cast and crew must sanitize their hands before eating.
– Any foot brought in by individuals must be labeled and not shared.
– If water is served from communal dispensers, the levers and buttons by which they operate must be cleaned after each use.

As for size of studio audiences:

– Studio audience members can include paid staff, and must be seated at least 6 feet from each other and wear face coverings whenever feasible. Audiences should be limited to 100 people or 25 percent of the maximum occupancy of the space (whichever is smaller).

So what do you think The Bold and the Beautiful, The Young and the Restless, General Hospital and Days of our Lives might look like in scenes under these COVID-19 guidelines?  Comment below.

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How are they going to act out Love scenes.? .

My grandmother thinks the producers will go back to some of the rules put in place by the Hays Commission. For example: no two people sharing the same bed, no two people kissing at all and so forth.

hi Elsie –
that is a good thing..
Soap love/sex scenes are really bad, I mean really bad..
those scenes are more-so comic than gooey.
not sexy, nope, just so not right..
best not having sex scenes iiissshhh bad..

Will be like Hogan’s Heroes!

They are not!

It can be done, but will require more work and protocols. I think scripts may have to be reworked and camera angles to make us think actors are closer than they are.

This is going to make soaps look extremely different. Think about how many love scenes there are, and then double that for how many scenes include characters just hugging, sitting at the same table, shaking hands, making arrests, etc. I wonder if these new guidelines will force soaps to write-in a pandemic storyline in order to explain the change in behaviour.

Hopefully, the make-up dept will be out.
And we can finally see the [real] and not the phoney person.
they/actors have become quite phoney especially age-wise.

I noticed; Michael from Y&R during an online broadcast
he looked his age- with thinning grey hair
it was the 1st time he looked real without that dead racoon on his head..
and the same goes for others / be your age!!!
they All looked great being themselves online during the lockdown.
And- Maurice/Sonny- he also looked stud with his thinning grey hair..
I prefer the real deal, not the phoney looking.

looking forward to the return !

SuOOO
I tend to agree with you but a lot of people dont want to see the real thing. They want the actors made up, looking young and more romantic, so to speak.
I did see Michael, so I know what you mean there. Except for the younger actors, I bet Victor is the only one we see who looks the same in real life as he does in feel life.

These soaps are D.O.A. Just let them RIP. They had a good run.

I agree. How are scenes going to be played out with social distanting and mask wearing still a very necessary part of everyday life. It has been so long since I have watched, that I don’t even know what is going on anymore. They served their purpose. Now I think it is time to move on. And the way I was addicted to both Y&R and B&B, I never thought I would here those words come out of my mouth.

well–

the cameras can do ummmm I’ m call it tricks.
cameras can make things/people seem closer even if further apart.

the actors can be standing 6ft. apart but will appear to be close..

Sounds like the Gestapo will be in charge of getting Soaps started again…..

Sounds like people who care about the health and safety of actors and entertainment technicians are in charge, to me. What good does it do to restart soaps (or any TV or movies) if everyone immediately gets sick? In my state, 1400+ people were newly diagnosed positive yesterday. Better safe than sorry! Stay safe, everyone, and best wishes to the folks in L.A. going back to work so we have entertainment.

Agreed! It is all about money! LA has nothing without the entertainment industry and these fans have NO LIFE.

Grow up and start thinking like a responsible adult! The health of each of the actors and others working on the sets of Soaps is more important than your childish need to see your favorites in romantic scenes all the time.

Would you like it better if everyone employed becomes quite ill? MORON.

Does anyone have any idea about when Y&R is resuming production? I keep reading about B&B but nothing about Y&R.

There will be more communications and dialog s from a distance, which probably good for social distance, not so much for camera view. However, 20 yrs ago filming wasn’t as good as today’s digital process, so it should be a creative way. Interesting to see this play out from fans view. I am glad to take story’s anyway it safe and on network.

Is GH the only show that regularly shoots scenes outdoors? That “park” area on the Prospect lot will probably be used a lot.

To save money, shows have heavily relied on restaurant and bar scenes the past few years. That’s likely to change temporarily as the use of extras in background tables is likely discouraged.

Sets have gotten smaller in the past decade, but look to the larger ones with multiple segments to get used more. On GH, for example, The hospital hub, Sonny’s living room/patio and the Q foyer/living room allow for distance and more cast to be present in each scene.

A larger question is if the shows all ignore the pandemic.

One would hope that shows used the downtime to be prepared for these expected guidelines.

They just need to start safe and do the best they can do and if they wanna be like real life then wear masksit wouldn’t bother me

If it comes to that, just cancel them all. It will come down to the decision of the network, ultimitely.

The soaps have been on life support for years. Soaps can not be the same with actors 6 ft apart! Are victor and nikki, Brooke and ridge going to shake hands? May work for GH, they can all just shoot each other.
The best will be the actors doing their own hair and makeup,funny. Now with the BLM movement sponsors will dictate the fate of the shows. Pull the plug already and put us out of or misery, life will go on!

No kissing I hope

And not to mention no more cat fights or good old fashioned slaps in face. What is a soap opera without a catfight or a face slap. I think the soaps should finally go the way of the dinosaur. RIP. It was fun while it lasted. The only thing I want to know is the outcome of Sharon’s cancer surgery

Breaking News

George Cheeks, CBS President & CEO, on Timeline to Launch New Daytime Drama, ‘The Gates’: “We’re So Focused on Getting it Right”

March 2024 will be remembered in the TV and soap world when the news broke that CBS is prepping a brand new daytime drama. Many had thought a major network would never bring a new daytime soap into the world, given that the last time it was attempted was 25 years ago when the now defunct Passions bowed on NBC.

However, The Gates is definitely in development and moving forward with some major players associated with it including: Michele Val Jean as The Gates writer, showrunner and one of its executive producers, and Sheila Ducksworth from NAACP Venture

Now, for the first time since its announcement, George Cheeks, the president and CEO of CBS and chief content officer for news and sports at Paramount+, spoke on the project that will feature a Black family as its central focus who live in a wealthy gated community.

Photo: NAACP

Speaking with Vulture, and when asked if The Gates is really something that truly has a chance of getting on the air, Cheeks clarified, “It’s super real. And just to give you a little bit of the backstory,  when we hired Sheila Ducksworth to run the NAACP Venture, she and I had multiple meetings talking about what different genres she was going to lean into, and we talked a lot about daytime.”

Cheeks added, “One of the things that the data made very clear to both of us is that daytime soap operas over index with Black women, and yet when you look at soap operas, it’s usually sort of a white-led family with supporting characters that reflect more of our society. So we just thought, wouldn’t it be interesting to flip that and make the core anchor family a Black family, and then make the other characters reflect more the broader scope of society?”

Photo: JPI

The CEO gave props to Michele Val Jean,  and how Ducksworth came to the table with the former B&B and GH writer. “She found this great writer, Michele Val Jean, who’s been in the soap opera space for 30 years. She came up with a pitch, and we loved it,” shares Cheeks. “We brought Procter & Gamble into it as well, because if there were going to be (product) integrations, we could do it more holistically and organically. All of that is to say, we did a lot of work on the front end to put this together. So while yes, it’s development, it’s accelerated development.”

When prodded on the timeline of when The Gates could come to full fruition, Gates related, “The actual timeline and when we’re going to do it is still uncertain, because we want to get this right. I mean, there hasn’t been a new soap opera launch since I can’t even begin to tell you when. But we have great success with Bold and the Beautiful and Young and the Restless, and so we think we’re the right folks to be launching a new soap. I wish I could tell you more about exact timing, but we’re so focused on getting it right, and that will dictate when we’re ready to launch it.”

The CBS exec also shared that whether The Gates will wind up an hour soap or half-hour is not yet determined, but that it is being developed as an hour show.

So, after reading what George Cheeks, the CBS President & CEO had to say about ‘The Gates’, are you even more excited for what looks to the first new network soap in 25 years? Comment below.

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Breaking News

Robyn Bernard, ‘General Hospital’s’ Terry Brock, Dead at 64

Former General Hospital star, Robyn Bernard, who played aspiring singer Terry Brock has died. She was 64-years-old.

Bernard’s body was found Tuesday in San Jacinto, California. A Riverside County Coroner told TMZ they identified the actress’ body using her fingerprints after deputies responded to a death investigation call on Tuesday March 12th.

Sources told the outlet that Bernard’s body was found in the wee hours of the morning. The cause of death has yet to be determined.

Photo: ABC

Bernard joined General Hospital back in 1984 as Terry Brock, the daughter of the abusive D.L. Brock (played by David Groh). Robyn remained on the ABC soap opera for six years before making her exit in 1990. At one point, Terry’s stepmother would become Bobbie Spencer (the late Jackie Zeman) when the nurse married her father.

Terry was involved in the Laurelton Murders storyline and after first setting her sights on Frisco Jones, wound up with killer Kevin O’Connor. Later, Terry was blamed for several murders and in the end killed Kevin in self-defense. In addition, Terry had a relationship with Dusty Walker played by none other than Shaun Cassidy.  She eventually left Port Charles after landing her own recording contract.

Photo: ABC

The last time GH Fans may have seen Bernard was in 2014, when she appeared at the GH Fan Club Weekend Past Cast event. Robyn is pictured below with the late Susan Brown (ex-Gail) at the fan gathering. She has been out of the limelight for several years.

Photo: JPI

In addition to her role on GH, Bernard was featured throughout her TV career on primetime’s Simon & Simon, Tour of Duty and The Facts of Life.

Share your remembrances and condolences for GH alum Robyn Bernard and her loved ones via the comment section below.

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Breaking News

51st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards Announce Broadcast Date on CBS

The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) revealed on Tuesday, that the 51st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards will be broadcast live on Friday night, June 7th (8 – 10 PM, ET/delayed PT) on the CBS Television Network, and available to stream live and on-demand on Paramount+*.

This year will mark the 18th time CBS has broadcast the Daytime Emmy Awards, which is more than any other network.

The 2024 Daytime Emmys will take place at the Westin Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles. Back in December of 2023, the delayed 50th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards were also held at that venue. The June 7th date for the upcoming ceremony will be the first time in several years that the event is scheduled a few weeks earlier than normal; excluding last year’s revised date to the actors and writers strikes.

Photo: NATAS

Lifetime Achievement honoree, nominations, host, and additional information will be announced in the coming weeks.

In a statement, Adam Sharp, President and CEO of NATAS noted, “We eagerly anticipate our return in June as we once again partner with CBS to recognize the exceptional and talented individuals who make daytime television great. We’re thrilled to kick off our second half-century of the Daytime Emmys.”

The Daytime Emmy Awards have recognized outstanding achievement in television programming and crafts since 1974, honoring work in a variety of categories, including daytime dramas, talk shows, instructional programming, hosting, culinary, and legal/courtroom programs. In 2021, NATAS and the Television Academy jointly announced plans to realign the Daytime and Primetime Emmy Awards to be organized by content genre, as opposed to program airtime.

Photo: JPI

The 51st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards will once again be produced by NATAS and Associated Television International (ATI), which produced Daytime Emmy Award ceremonies on The CW in 2009 and on CBS in 2010, 2011, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. Adam Sharp and Lisa Armstrong are executive producers from NATAS, while David McKenzie is executive producer from ATI.

So, glad to know that the 51st Annual Daytime Emmy Awards honoring performance and shows in the 2023 calendar year, will be held in early June this year, and once again broadcast on CBS? Comment below.

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