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WHAT’S NEXT?


DRAMA


communication and collaboration so everyone can take learnings from each show as they get back into production.” And one of the thorniest difficulties


SEASON TWO L


TV drama


production faced an almost


complete shutdown


when COVID hit, but


producers are now looking


ahead to the


next chapter. Jon Creamer reports


ockdown hit TV drama production hard with swathes of shows mid-shoot having to close down and wait it out.


During lockdown, some new shows


made it through, though only those ideally suited to the conditions. The BBC remade Talking Heads and Staged, starring David Tennant and Michael Sheen, was also made via self-shooting and Zoom. Soaps including EastEnders and Coronation Street restarted in a limited way in June. Sky restarted its first drama in June too, Me and the Others, although filmed in Austria. Those production companies lucky


enough to have tied up production in March and moved on to post could at least continue that process (remotely of course). Back in June, the industry got together to publish shooting guidelines but, guidelines or no, it’s a genre that’s tough to get back into production with its foreign locations, production villages, international talent and huge crews to house and feed. Sister exec producer, Chris Fry was


right in the thick of it at lockdown. “We had one show shooting and three in various stages of prep.” And,


for getting back to production is still insurance. “The exclusion of COVID risk from all production insurance policies” is a big challenge, says Martin Haines, co-md of Kudos. “In an effort to channel my energies into something positive in the early days of lockdown, I helped establish the PACT led task force lobbying for an interim government backed solution, whilst the commercial insurance market comes back into play. The case for Government support is a strong one, given the huge gross value added of the UK sector and the opportunity cost of doing nothing. Watch this space!” But even if the insurance issue


he says, getting back to shooting will take some time. “We are looking to try to get some of the shows back into production towards the end of the year.” Though it will be far from easy. “That involves looking at all of the relevant guidelines and then budgeting and scheduling what impact that it will have on the overall plan and cost.” But those guidelines are constantly


shifting “so it’s challenging to keep across everything. We are working closely with the broadcasters for each of the shows as they have to approve our approach.” And even with the guidelines, the


way is not always entirely clear. “A lot of the systems and guidelines are not fool proof,” says Pulse Films ceo, Thomas Benski. “So we’re finding we have to filter and interpret, in a fairly granular way, exactly how that applies to us and how we can achieve the creativity that we need.” Finding the way forward will need


a large degree of industry cooperation. “There are some productions that are talking about starting up again in July and August, so it will be interesting to see how that goes,” says Fry. “There is a huge amount of cross industry


is solved, costs will still rise when production starts again with more prep time and the myriad on set Covid control measures all contributing. Pulse’s Benski says he anticipates


“between a 15% and 30% increase. Depending on the type of project, it will be one way or the other. And that’s just going have to be an assumption that we have for the short term future.” The logistical issues for drama


production are mind boggling. And changes to existing scripts might be necessary to adhere to restrictions, not to mention scripts meant to shoot in the summer that might now have to make use of shorter, darker winter days to hit deadlines. “How do you get the cast and crew to the location? Where do you park everyone? We know we will have to feed the crew with prepacked lunches, but where do they eat when having to social distance?” asks Fry “It’s fine in the summer, but when we get into autumn and winter when it’s raining and cold it’s going to be challenging to house everyone.” Solutions will be needed. “We


are not scheduled to start shooting anything on a huge scale until January,” says Benski. “But we’ve leaned into a lot more technology, for instance virtual scouting and we’re talking to Unreal Engine and looking at how you can prepare yourself in a way


Summer 2020 televisual.com 25


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