There have been comparisons but it’s not apples to apples. In porn the precautionary practices concern the performers, but not the crew. Potentially testing 200+ people every day (not every 14 days) is a very different endeavor. https://twitter.com/interstellarbi/status/1263915786915250178

To give people who don’t work in TV an idea of what that looks like... I read an estimate that suggests rapid-testing the whole crew every day would end up taking up to 2 hours. That’s 16 hours over the course of an 8-day shoot. That means 16 hours of footage that we don’t film.

For most of us, the studio isn’t going to increase our budget much to cover this stuff. The 2 hours per day of extra time for every crew member, and all the medical testing and protective gear, plus hiring medical professionals, will come out of the budget that already exists.

So! Let’s say a typical Roswell episode has 46 strips, aka scenes. If lose 16 hours of shooting from that episode, that takes me to about... eh, 34, maybe 36 strips if I’m careful.

I could do more than that if I’m willing to not shoot big wides or close ups (but my show really lives in what I call “skies and eyes,” which - you guessed it - is big wide shots and super close up shots.)

So, that means about one “storyline” per episode that goes away, which means less screen time for characters who aren’t Max & Liz. It also means trying to limit scenes to 2 people, 3 at the most, because every character you add to a scene adds about an hour to the shooting time.

The loss of hours also means not leaving our set much. So the places we like to “go” - like the cliffside where sunset kisses happen, or the church, or the town square, or the prison, or 1948 - all become a lot more difficult.

So now we are working to write “bottle” episodes — episodes that all take place on sets we own — a lot more. BUT: our most significant sets are a bar, a hospital, and a diner. And to maintain social distancing protocols... we won’t be able to have extras occupying those spaces.

All of this, PLUS there is a possibility that we will be asked to limit or even eliminate “intimate” scenes between actors — mostly meaning kissing, sex, hugs/cuddles, and fights — because actors will be the only people not masked and gloved on set, so they’re vulnerable.

(I had a meeting with other showrunners where we discussed things like: CGI kisses, shooting kisses with distant drones so you can’t tell they’re not really kissing, dental dams we digitally remove. All VERY SEXY AND ROMANTIC.)

Plus, guests who fly in and out of town must be limited. On our show that’s Arturo, Sheriff, Cameron, Charlie, Steph, Forrest, the Manes Bros, Wyatt, Mimi - people who make our town come alive. Not to mention every director, writer... and me.

Quarantining actors and crew might be feasible for a short film shoot, but it isn’t for a six-month TV shoot. We can’t tell 200+ people they can’t live with their families, visit loved ones/have visitors, or go to the grocery store. And even if we could, we couldn’t enforce it.

ANYWAY. All of this, and the challenge is: how do you maintain the standard of your show so that the audience doesn’t notice anything has changed? Because if they notice it, there goes the escapism, there goes the entertainment.

This is all in the context of my show, but every showrunner is dealing with this on their own level, so at least I’m not alone! Our team is coming up with brilliant creative ideas. I have no answers yet. But... what was the question? Oh yeah. It’s different from porn.

Other thoughts: this is all IF rapid testing becomes more accurate. And if you have an immunocompromised actor or crew member? YIKES. I genuinely don’t know if you can safely keep that person employed.

And if ONE PERSON tests positive, do you shut down for two weeks? When you come back after two weeks, what if someone else tests positive?

Do we eliminate crafty? This means people working 14 hour days without coffee or snacks. Lunch breaks will have to be staggered because we can’t all pack into the cafeteria, so there’s more time lost filming.

We’ll need more medics (every set already has one) to administer tests, sanitation crews every night, and people whose job it is JUST to enforce and support social distancing. All of this is good because safety is MOST important. HOWEVER—

We now have to think about where the budget for that comes from. Do I reduce guest stars? Slash the music budget? Fewer stunts, explosions, visual effects? All of the above?

This time of year I’m usually happily curled up in my writing bubble, dreaming up plot twists and heart-rending monologues and reasons for longing looks across crowded rooms. Instead I’m thinking about this stuff. BUT THE SCRIPT IS STILL DUE NOW HURRY HURRY HURRY