Coronavirus' Effect on the Entertainment Industry

[knives]

It hasn't happened here yet, but there's definitely been a big don't leave New England suggestion going around.

[captveg]

As far as actual film productions go, so far the following have had shutdowns of various degrees:

Mission: Impossible 7
Nightmare Alley
The Last Duel
Home Alone (Disney+ remake)
Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings
Elvis/Tom Parker biopic (Luhrmann + Hanks)

Delayed production starts for the following:

The Little Mermaid (Disney Live Action)
Peter Pan & Wendy (Peter Pan Disney Live Action)
Shrunk (Honey, I Shrunk the Kids sequel)

TV productions on hiatus is a much longer list.

[domino harvey]

The worst industry to be in right now must be insurance for all these delayed or canceled shoots

[therewillbeblus]

I don’t know if it’s happening nationally but I know state workers here aren’t even allowed to travel more than 70 miles without following the trip with a mandatory 14 day self-quarantine unpaid (ie no one’s actually gonna go anywhere)

The 70 mile thing, no, but the 14-day unpaid self-quarantine is in effect at least in most schools/colleges and institutions here, though many of the latter will just make you use your sick/leave time until it runs out then it's unpaid.

[Saturnome]

I most certainly lost my secondary job in all of this, as it depended mostly on theaters and concert venues around here, and they all closed yesterday. A month ago I had stopped taking offers for doing scientific vulgarization comics (which I what I mainly do), sent them to friends instead, in order to finally work on my book and make money with this other job while it's being done, but now it feels like I've thrown myself into a trap and got no job at all. I'll just wait and see for now. At least I have this job that I can do at home and that may come back soon.

[mfunk9786]

Took me a good long time until I realized the name of the disease was misspelled in this topic title (wasn't me!)

[Lemmy Caution]

I've taken to calling it katrinavirus when dealing with Americans ...

[Franc Zaic]

I've taken to calling it katrinavirus when dealing with Americans ...

I don't get it.

[willoneill]

Just received an e-mail that the TIFF Bell Lightbox theatre in Toronto is shutting down until April 14th.

[Toland's Mitchell]

I'm strictly freelance and work in a mix of narrative, doc, and commercial/corporate projects and literally all of my shoots have been cancelled for the foreseeable future. The same thing has happened to numerous friends, all in different departments and none of us can really know when it'll pick up again, especially given the lead time necessary to jump start these kinds of things. I'm fortunate to be an editor too and can do that work from home, but that well will gradually dry up too without the shoots occurring. It's a bizarre time for people in this industry.

I relate to this. I'm a grip and all of my upcoming shoots have been postponed. Same with most of my friends/colleagues. It's a bummer for everyone. Hope your work-from-home lasts until this blows over.

I was reading elsewhere that movie theatres are traditionally some of the last places to ever close down in emergencies, so they may go down fighting even with the same old movies showing

It seems that way. Most theaters are open but limiting capacity to 50%. I went to the theaters yesterday and asked the employee what the plan is going forward with all these major releases postponed. He said indie releases from small production companies may still release their films on schedule since they're not expected to sell out theaters anyway. Other than that, yeah the plan is to keep screening the same movies (and since I'm out of a job for the foreseeable future, this will make seeing Portrait of a Lady on Fire very convenient). The theater was pretty dead yesterday but glad it's open nevertheless.

It's crazy how this is hitting the entertainment industry hard, and I'm talking the lower echelons of it where people can't go too long without work. A friend of mine works for a management company and he says they now have 50 clients (presumably actors) out of work. Meanwhile some indie musicians here are asking people to consider purchasing their wares online because with their upcoming gigs now cancelled or postponed, it's going to be lean times for them. None of this is unique to these industries - a lot of people are losing their jobs or substantial pay from shutdowns.

I like to think it will bounce back after this blows over. Productions are merely postponed, not cancelled altogether. Personally I'm still slated to work on all my postponed shoots whenever they're rescheduled. In the meantime, productions that were scheduled to go into filming in the near future (2-8 weeks from now) will hopefully not see a halt in their schedule. Therefore, once this blows over, I'm hoping there will be much more filming going on than usual, from the shutdown productions resuming and from the productions that were scheduled going into filming anyway. This would create enough work for people to make up for this temporary hiatus in the industry. Fingers crossed.

[DarkImbecile]

Olga Kurylenko diagnosed with COVID-19

[Aunt Peg]

Melbourne Cinematheque has cancelled screenings for at least 4 weeks.

I've continued to go to our annual French Film Festival but I'd be surprised if cinemas are not shut down in Australia by the end of the week or only allowed to sell a minimum number of seats. Audiences continue the smallest I've seen in over 30 years of the festival and the few people who are attending have been requested to sit away from each other.

Olga Kurylenko was in one of the films I saw today, The Translators.

[whaleallright]

All theaters in NY and LA ordered to close... perhaps for the first time ever?

[Brian C]

I suppose Chicago isn’t far behind, although I can’t say I feel highly motivated to go to a movie right now anyway. Should have gone to First Cow when I had the chance, I guess.

[senseabove]

San Francisco theaters were trying to implement maxcap social distancing, including the Castro theatre, an undivided palace that seats 1400 max and so would have plenty of room for even 250 people to spread out, but San Francisco shut down places with even the capacity for large gatherings over the weekend, whether they were limiting attendance for distancing or not. Or I should say "supposedly shut down," I guess, because, weirdly, some of the chains—e.g. AMC megaplexes, Drafthouse, Landmarks—seem to still be open. Doubly weirdly, Landmarks have turned reserved seating off, when you'd think they'd just restrict which seats were for sale to limit spacing. Not sure if the smaller indies are shuttering out of community feeling or the larger theaters are just circumventing mandates somehow, but it seems like a lobby leading to 8-10 small theaters would be a worse place for spreading than a single-screen arthouse...

I've seen a fundraiser for NYC theater employees and one for an indie chain in Seattle, but given that rep scenes in any given city have a certain level of familiarity and commitment, I'm surprised there aren't more popping up.

[MichaelB]

The ICA in London is closing with immediate effect:

Following careful consideration of the current course of the Covid-19 pandemic, the entire ICA (exhibition spaces, Cinema, Theatre, Bookstore and Rochelle Canteen) will close to visitors and staff until further notice.

Stefan Kalmár, Director of The Institute of Contemporary Arts, said:

‘Today I decided, together with the senior management-team and Wolfgang Tillmans, Chair of the ICA, that it is in the best interests of our staff and the ICA community to temporarily close.

‘As a civic-minded public organisation, for us, the medical and scientific evidence leaves no doubt that the Covid-19 spread can be slowed down, lives saved if all larger gatherings are suspended. By doing so, the ICA pre-empts what we hope will eventually be the decision for all cultural organisations in London and the UK in order to safeguard our staff, our visitors, and the artists with whom we work. We will continue to review the situation daily and hope we can resume our programme as soon as possible. All ICA staff will work from home and continue to be paid.

‘In the meantime, our thoughts go out to all those whose health is impacted here in London, across the UK, Europe and the world.’

[movielocke]

Post on Our show and most other post throughout Hollywood were shut down Friday with full pay through the end of this week.

But I’ve started hearing reports that over the weekend some shows notified their post staff they’d be on indefinite hiatus (furlough with no pay) after the end of this week. I expect that to be widespread with the news for individual shows rippling our over the next few days.

The income caps on corona virus unemployment benefits combined with housing prices in California mean most people involved in the entertainment industry will be shortly defaulting on Their mortgages ($2-7k per month on average) or missing their $2-3k monthly rent payments.

[therewillbeblus]

A friend of mine was supposed to be an extra in the new Paul Schrader movie today...wonder if that actually wound up happening.

Schrader posted on FB today that they pulled production with 15 days left in shooting, much to his frustration.

[mfunk9786]

Universal is making theatrical releases The Invisible Man, The Hunt, and Trolls World Tour [on April 10th, its theatrical release date] available on demand for $19.99 (not sure if this is to purchase or rent)

Has any film in history experienced a stranger release cycle/schedule/however you want to term it than The Hunt?

[domino harvey]

I think that's about what Universal's rent to own on demand titles normally go for

EDIT: Amazon confirms it's $19.99 to purchase

[Ribs]

It’s 19.99 to rent

[mfunk9786]

...which is it

Either way, it sure beats the price of a movie ticket if you're 2+ people

[Forrest Taft]

A friend of mine was supposed to be an extra in the new Paul Schrader movie today...wonder if that actually wound up happening.

Schrader posted on FB today that they pulled production with 15 days left in shooting, much to his frustration.

Only five days left, actually, according to his FB-post.

[domino harvey]

[Ribs]

I think that’s the pre-order to buy it when it becomes available normally in 90 days. All the literature and press release says its $20 to rent for 48 hrs