Three Series Pause Production, A Pilot Is Delayed At CBS Studio Center Due Of Positive COVID Tests
EXCLUSIVE: Three series produced at CBS Studio Center in Studio City have suspended production after production team members tested positive for COVID-19, I have learned. Additionally, production on a pilot, which was about to start filming, was delayed, also due to positive tests.
None would comment but I hear the impacted series are CBS’ All Access’ Why Women Kill, from CBS Studios; Apple TV+’s Mythic Quest, from Lionsgate TV; and ABC’s upcoming comedy Call Your Mother, from Sony TV. The pilot is believed to be ABC’s workplace comedy starring Lucy Liu, from CBS Studios. I hear the production shutdowns started on Monday. Mythic Quest is slated to resume filming this Friday, Nov. 13; the other productions may stay dark through the end of this week before the situation is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The pilot will likely be pushed.
CBS Studio Center’s SVP Human Resources Talia Robinson today sent a letter to employees, a copy of which was obtained by Deadline.
“At CBS Studio Center, we follow the guidance of LA County Public Health department and work closely with our productions and tenants to ensure that they have robust and compliant COVID Safety protocols in place. However, recent events, most notably Halloween, as well as gatherings and celebrations in the days following the elections and a national spike in infections are also thought to have potentially contributed to the recent local uptick,” the letter said. (You can read it in full below the post)
“ViacomCBS is committed to maintaining COVID safety across our productions as well as with our Lot tenants. We ask you to join us in remaining vigilant with respect to following all protocols and being mindful both on site and off about COVID safety. Should you encounter any circumstance on site where COVID protocols are not being followed, please bring it to the immediate attention of your production’s COVID Compliance Officer, Lot Safety, and/or production management. When we do learn of safety concerns, the productions, COVID compliance experts, and other partners work to identify and address potential causes and ensure we remediate them as quickly as possible.”
The CBS Studio Center lot has 18 stages, approximately half of them are being used for productions by third-party studios and production companies.
Following safety protocols based on Los Angeles County and CDC guidelines at the CBS Studio Center campus, everyone entering the lot — employees, tenants, talent and production personnel — undergo health screenings, including a temperature check, and masks are mandatory while on the premises.
While on set, safety protocols are administered by the individual productions. All outside shows that lease space on the lot manage their testing and compliance measures in accordance with the COVID-19 Return to Work Agreement with the guilds and unions. The companies also make decisions about shutting down or staying in production in the event of a positive test.
Studio Center officials have to be notified of any positive tests to coordinate response procedures such as contact tracing, quarantine protocols, sanitization and any applicable reporting to health officials.
In today’s LA County COVID database update, there were two entries of outbreaks at CBS Studio Center (aka CBS Radford) — 11 cases on Stage 4 and 7 cases on Stage 14.
Production shutdowns have become a regular occurrence as the amount of positive COVID-19 tests on shows has been on the rise amid a new wave of infections nationwide.
Scripted series that have paused production due to positive COVID-19 tests include TNT’s Claws, HBO’s The Gilded Age, Nat Geo’s Genius: Aretha, Netflix’s Vikings: Valhalla, NBC’s Chicago Fire and Chicago Med, Fox’s The Resident, Peacock’s Rutherford Falls, ABC’s For Life, CBS’ Young Sheldon, Disney+’s Big Shot, the CW’s All American, and daytime drama Days Of Our Lives.
Dear All,
As many of you are aware, for the first time, Los Angeles residents received an emergency text alert from the city Tuesday evening warning them that COVID cases are increasing, and community spread remains high. Over the last several days, we have also seen a corresponding increase in COVID positive test results across the many thousands of lab results we receive every day as part of our efforts to keep all of us at CBS Studio Center as safe as possible. While most of these are isolated circumstances, a few have been on a single production. In those cases, production has been paused to allow for the proper notifications, additional testing, sanitization and other COVID protocols to be followed.
At CBS Studio Center, we follow the guidance of LA County Public Health department and work closely with our productions and tenants to ensure that they have robust and compliant COVID Safety protocols in place. However, recent events, most notably Halloween, as well as gatherings and celebrations in the days following the elections and a national spike in infections are also thought to have potentially contributed to the recent local uptick.
ViacomCBS is committed to maintaining COVID safety across our productions as well as with our Lot tenants. We ask you to join us in remaining vigilant with respect to following all protocols and being mindful both on site and off about COVID safety. Should you encounter any circumstance on site where COVID protocols are not being followed, please bring it to the immediate attention of your production’s COVID Compliance Officer, Lot Safety, and/or production management. When we do learn of safety concerns, the productions, COVID compliance experts, and other partners work to identify and address potential causes and ensure we remediate them as quickly as possible.
We all look forward to returning to “normal” and we remain hopeful that day may well be on the horizon. Meanwhile, please know that since March all of us and put all of our creative, technical, and professional knowledge, commitment, and spirit into helping our industry get back to work. We appreciate the tremendous collaboration and effort everyone has undertaken as we work together to remain safe and healthy through these difficult times.
Thank you
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