Hollywood, California – The entertainment industry’s joint collaborative White Paper is being developed that will produce guidelines for the safe return to work of thousands. This joint collaborative initiative responding to Covid-19 includes needed health and safety required guidelines.
Completing this important protocal is needed in order for film productions to begin. Representatives from the major studios as well as key Hollywood unions as SAG-AFTRA and IATSE are committed to having the document completed and approved by government health officials as soon as possible. Working around the clock, the Industry-Wide Labor-Management Safety Committee’s role in drafting this White Paperi is critical so film and TV productions can get started.
SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris said in a statement to her union members that “Working with our Blue Ribbon Commission on Safety, we are completing a set of initial protocols with input from our expert epidemiologists, industrial sanitation specialists, member leaders and staff. We also are working in collaboration with our fellow guilds and unions, and the industry to ensure that our protocols are part of any harmonized industry standard.
“There are multiple efforts across the industry to create various procedures for returning to work. SAG-AFTRA has not yet signed on to any specific set of procedures for reopening. We are reviewing all of these on a case-by-case basis to ensure that any such guidelines reflect the concerns of performers and provide appropriate protection for any return to production. In this unprecedented time, there are many and varied interests in the larger process. While we remain flexible, our overriding interest is in ensuring that sets are safe for SAG-AFTRA members. We want to get back to work and we want producers to have the confidence and understanding of our membership as they move forward with their projects,” said SAG-AFTRA President Carteris.
