Hollywood Could Force Vaccinations on Sets, Studios, Guilds Say in Short-Term Deal – The Hollywood Reporter

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Major Hollywood studios and unions have come to an interim, short-term agreement on new COVID-19 protocols in place, and finally taking vaccines into account.

In a joint statement, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and major industry unions — including SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, DGA and Teamsters — said they had agreed to relax existing protocols for fully vaccinated actors and crew.

In addition, producers will have the option to delegate vaccines to crew and crew in Zone A. Under current safety protocols, groups are divided into different ‘zones’ that correspond to the proximity of actors and the different levels of protection required. Zone A is usually the area on site where representatives and crew have to work in close proximity, often without personal protective equipment.

“The amendments focus on workplace practices for fully vaccinated cast and crew, including changes to outdoor masking requirements and updated mealtime protocols,” the joint statement said. “Producers will also have the option to implement mandatory mold and crew vaccination policies in Area A on a production-by-production basis.”

The new agreement also includes adjustments to frequency testing for certain regions in the United States and Canada, where, according to the statement, “the incidence of COVID-19 is very low and remains low.” The updated agreement will remain in effect until September 30, 2021. Until then, studios and unions will continue to closely monitor COVID-19 developments and will consider further modifications at that time.

All parties have been negotiating for months an update to the existing COVID-19 protocols, which were first put in place last September of last year. That contract was due to expire on April 30, but it was extended to give them more time to negotiate its details and to allow vaccines to release more.

Whether vaccinations will become mandatory in Hollywood has been a question for some time. The co-CEO of Netflix told KCRW’s The Business podcast in March that he wasn’t yet sure how his company would deal with the issue. “We will not take a position on whether we delegate or not,” he said. “I think people are very excited about getting back to normalcy, so we’re going to play it by ear and see how the adoption of vaccines goes.”

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