THREAD: State of film production in the COVID era.

We've been reaching out to our 1,000s of customers + partners.

I'd like to share our top-line findings to date.

This concerns all of us — producers, directors, writers, tech nerds, critics. Please share.

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First, a massive shout-out to @katiehinsen of @NiceShoesOnline for compiling this data. We're piggybacking off her efforts with our "State of the Industry" survey.

If you're a producer, post supe, editor, artist ... please consider weighing in. https://forms.gle/cb8L4Mk3vZpi5Kwy8

On to the findings.

Lots of producers currently stuck in "permanent pre-production"

Indie films especially find themselves bottlenecked by:

(a) difficulty obtaining production insurance
(b) difficulty obtaining shooting permits
(c) concerns around crew + cast safety

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Production insurance may be the biggest threat to indie film right now. Studios and networks can leverage existing blanket policies.

But 95%+ of production consists of one-off LLCs. Those are in danger.

Worst case: indie film could just fall off a cliff in 2020.

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Shooting permits: Film offices have been closed. Where they're open, things move more slowly. *Everything* is moving more slowly.

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A majority of producers have also cited concerns around crew/cast safety. Either waiting on union/guild/studio regs, or trying to reconcile different policies.

Or just personally uncomfortable with moving forward. Understandable.

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Post production is taking a *lot* longer across the board.

In March/April everything ground to a halt. Folks just figuring out what the hell is going on. Now ...

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... where post has re-openend, everything is slower. "Up to 4x slower."

Challenges are technical (e.g. calibrating monitors in multiple locations) but also cultural. The "chair + couch" model is deeply ingrained.

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Bigger content producers are buffing post production budgets by 30-50% in response. Again, this favors the Big Dojos over the indies.

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HUGE disparity between vendors that are doing a good-enough job at remote and vendors who are really struggling with remote.

Lots of post supes are doing lots of vendor-shopping at this moment.

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Again, this isn't just a technical thing but a cultural thing.

(Plug: I've been running the remote http://Endcrawl.com  team for 8 years and I can attest. This is not a flip of the switch. It has to be baked into a company's DNA.)

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Producers are pivoting in few keys areas. Let's start with geography.

Alt shooting locations include:

Pinewood Atlanta, Toronto, London, Puerto Rico, Canary Islands, Scotland, Poland. Even the arctic!

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Not so easy: there's a travel restriction in place. But that's not quite as airtight as we may think.

Still, producers need to minimize above-the-line travel and work with 95% local crew.

But most of these locations won't be able to support the sudden demand for labor.

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Second pivot area: type of content.

Let's start with documentaries, which are going strong in a lot of ways. But plenty of challenges here, too:

(a) shooting interviews
(b) getting stock footage is also _slower_ (notice a theme?)
(c) docs typically have a long lead time

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Side note: there's a big uptick in the demand for sports docs.

With so many leagues hobbled, questionable, or out of commission—sports channels need content.

If you're a documentary producer and sports is your bailiwick: this is your moment, y'all.

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There's also talk of pivot to animation.

Makes sense in theory. But again favors more well-heeled producers at the expense of indie producers. Animation ain't cheap.

And—again—just because you *can* do most of this work remote doesn't mean you have the skill set.

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There's also speculation that studios will make a run on "scripts that can be shot" in the COVID era. Small, intimate, innovative.

Just speculation, mind you.

But sounds reasonable enough. The return of the mid-budget films?

Hey, writers: this sounds like an opportunity.

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Just a personal plea for me:

Go light on the "Zoom movies" please? I think we've already done that.

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Lots of studios' offices closed.

We already know Google is shuttered for another YEAR.

VOX closed indefinitely. Warner Media not going back to Hudson Yards this calendar year.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-to-keep-employees-home-until-summer-2021-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-11595854201

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"Podcasts are booming."

Cool. Are the economics of podcasts booming, though?



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Post production taking about 4x as long to do remotely.

But there’s a LOT of pressure from the networks for producers + production companies to deliver on existing contracts.

On that note...

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There's a big expectation that NYC will be back in swing this fall.

Stands to reason: NY/NJ have done a pretty good job at flattening/squashing the curve. (Don't @ me.)

So, combining these last two points:

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NY doing well + pent-up post production + pressure for content =

We're gearing up for some huge industry crunch this fall/winter.

Buckle up.

(This is good news, mostly.)

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Second-to-last plug:

http://Endcrawl.com  is online, has always been remote, and serviced thousands of productions.

Like Moonlight, Hamilton, and Bill+Ted 3. We're ready for the crunch.

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Final plug: please consider contributing to our State Of The Industry survey. We'll keep sharing insights.

And all credit again to @katiehinsen's massive efforts compiling this data. (Also, you should follow her, she's a legend.)

https://forms.gle/cb8L4Mk3vZpi5Kwy8

All for now.

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