Covid-19: Lights, camera, action as TV and film production rolls again

With South Africans fearing they would run out of episodes of their favourite local television shows as production was hampered by lockdown, the Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa today, 4 May gave the green light to production companies to return to work along with other level four workers.

This was with the proviso that all rules and regulations currently in effect would be adhered to by the companies, their crew, cast and full content production teams.

The minister added a few more rules to ensure the safety of everyone on set. “What behaviour is expected from everyone on set must be made visible in all common areas and copied to all personnel of the company,” he said.

The minister provided clear guidelines, warning that compliance checks would be periodically undertaken, as was the case with businesses across the country.

The guidelines for both TV and film production sets include:

•  The sanitising of the set before filming, during shooting sessions and at the end of filming is compulsory
• Production companies are to keep a daily register of all persons granted access to the premises with details of their daily temperatures

Transport of TV and film crew:

• Those that are able to are advised to use their private vehicles to get to the set
• The production company should organise transport for those without their own transport
• All making use of transport arranged by the production company are to wear face masks at all times during transit

Catering on set:

• Catering for crew and cast must be in individual packaging, with cutlery
• Those choosing to come to set with their own meals must be allowed to do so
• No shared craft or catering areas will be permitted
• Cast and crew must be supplied with their own water bottles

Shooting floor protocols:

• Number of cast and crew must be kept at a maximum of 50 people, including the cast
• The curfew time of between 8pm and 5am applies

The minister also urged production companies to include storylines and content providing information on the coronavirus in order to reach as many people as possible on these platforms.

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