In a world that’s eager to get as many people back to work as soon as possible, there’s some exciting news from the film industry- what they’re doing is a resounding success! The widely-adopted return-to-work protocols the industry has been running since June have proved to be “a remarkable success” in the eyes of SAG-AFTRA. BLAKE & WANG P.A takes a closer look.
It appears that the widely-used protocols are still delivering generally safe environments on set, despite the general upward trend of community infection rates in the cities in which they are working. Gabrielle Carteris, the SAG-AFTRA president, maintains that it is ‘resilience, solidarity, and concern for each other’ that will see the industry through 2021 and into a (hopefully) pandemic-free future.
The protocols certainly haven’t been the easiest to work with. Both complex and necessarily detailed, strategies have involved regular sanitation, zone-based set access control, and regular screening and testing of everyone from A-list star to extra, among many others. It’s a framework that was established through a near-unprecedented collaboration of the IATSE, Basic Crafts and Teamsters unions, AMPTP, and the DGA, among others, and working closely with medical and scientific experts across the nation.
To date, it’s possibly one of the most impressive- and successful- back-to-work programs in the nation, allowing members of every different union to get back to work with some semblance of normality as well as safety on set.
SAG-AFTRA overall reports an uptick in work, and anticipates this will continue to grow over the next two quarters. At this point, we can’t doubt that most of this positivity can be attributed to the tight, safe sets being run so successfully. SAG-AFTRA has been quick to reinforce how important it is not to waver from the path if we want to keep people working, but everyone involved is certainly due their praise.
