“Testing is important and extracting people who test positive is important, but people rely too heavily on testing. They’re lulled into a false sense of security by thinking that everyone on set is tested so they are safe, when the testing is only a snapshot. It’s just a moment in time,” the Warner Bros. worker added. “I can test negative in the morning and be positive in the afternoon. This is not a worry-free environment. You should be worried.”
It could also be unrealistic to count on a normal for COVID security throughout tv and movie units given how totally different every manufacturing is, however the Amazon Studios worker stated there ought to at the very least be clear tips on every present. When it involves the Amazon manufacturing, the assistant stated, “The way I’ve been told to handle things changes depending on who I’m speaking to.”
“No one is on the same page,” the worker stated. “There’s not a lot of clear communication going on. I don’t know if my superiors have even properly communicated with each other.”
According to the Amazon Studios worker, important solid members additionally “operate under a different set of rules” as a result of they’re examined extra typically. And the ability dynamics with extra senior colleagues don’t assist.
“Some people act frustrated when I try to just do my job — it’s very much an ego thing in that regard,” the worker stated. “I try to calmly reiterate and explain what I’ve been tasked to do, which also isn’t much. I’m just trying to operate on the minimal instruction I’ve been given.”
Another manufacturing assistant accountable for COVID security on a documentary about Britney Spears over the summer season additionally stated they didn’t obtain any coaching on the way to preserve everybody protected, and that it was uncomfortable to implement what tips there have been when everybody was their superior.
They recalled somebody on set who stored refusing to put on a masks, even coming over at one level to “go on and on saying, ‘More people die from the flu [than COVID-19] every year.’”
“And I can’t say anything back because I’m a PA,” the assistant stated. “I just responded, ‘Interesting, I didn’t know that.’ He would only wear his mask for maybe 10-minute increments, and we’d have to keep reminding him.”
Now, with Los Angeles County persevering with to be a coronavirus scorching spot — the common variety of new COVID circumstances per day was just lately about 7,000 — the assistant stated they’re avoiding in-person work “because of how terrifying LA is right now.”
But not all share their sentiment. A COVID security officer who just lately labored on a CBS sitcom stated they’d a largely optimistic expertise engaged on set and are ready to finally return.
“Universally, this is something every industry is going to have to learn,” the worker stated. “We’re trying to make this work as much as possible, and from what I saw, people were more angry and disillusioned at hearing that the production was in danger of getting shut down because other people weren’t being safe than they were angry about having to abide by the rules we created.”
The assistant, who additionally declined to be named, stated there was a studying curve for crew members and expertise to get used to the present’s strict algorithm, however staffers “changed their mindsets and embraced the new normal” as a result of they needed to maintain their jobs.
“We didn’t want to come from a place of, ‘You have to do this,’ but we explained the reasoning behind it,” the worker stated. “Putting a cotton swab up your nose for 10 seconds every day is a heck of a lot better than potentially contracting a deadly virus and spreading it to your friends and family.” ●
