HOLLYWOOD—California Governor Gavin Newsom has given the green light for film and television production to resume on June 12, after a three-month shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. But as the adult industry awaits new guidelines for safe production standards from the Free Speech Coalition, mainstream Hollywood may be taking its sex scenes in a new, high-tech direction, according to one report.
In order to prevent actors from transmitting coronavirus infection during simulated sex scenes in film and TV productions, Hollywood may simply stop shooting those scenes and rely on digital imagery, often known as CGI, to create on-screen “close contact. That solution was proposed in a 22-page paper authored by an industry task force with representatives from unions and trade associations representing actors, directors, crew members, editors and other film industry workers.
Most of the safety guidelines reportedly proposed in the document follow accepted safety procedures for preventing transmission of the coronavirus. They include regular testing for the virus, on-set hand-washing and sanitizing, wearing of protective facial coverings and visors by film crew personnel, and banning of live audiences at television tapings.
But the document also suggests that producers “consider measures to minimize scenes with close contact between performers, such as amending scripts or use of digital effects.” Such scenes include both “intimate” contact between performers, as well as fight scenes.
Newsom last week announced that Hollywood may start production on June 12 “subject to approval by county public health officers within the jurisdictions of operations following their review of local epidemiological data including cases per 100,000 population, rate of test positivity, and local preparedness to support a health care surge, vulnerable populations, contact tracing and testing.”
The proposal also recommends that productions employ an independent “COVID-19 compliance officer” who would “oversee testing, physical distancing, disinfecting and all safety protocols related to COVID-19 on a set,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The COVID compliance officer would presumably be separate from the “intimacy coordinator” now in standard use to oversee the filming of sex scenes on many Hollywood sets.
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