Two cameramen check the equipment during filming.
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The COVID-19 guidelines, which have protected the cast and crew during production amid the pandemic for the past three years, expire on May 12.
The current iteration of the pact, negotiated by industry unions and top studios and streaming companies, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), remains in place until May 11. After that, the deal, which AMPTP announced Thursday, will expire, with entertainment unions confirming the news later in the day. reported on the probable end of the pact early Thursday.
“Over the past three years, workers across the entertainment industry have benefited from our robust protections that surpass practices in many other industries,” a coalition of unions including the Directors Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA said in a statement. “As the public health emergency now ends and the COVID-19 Safeguards Agreement expires, individual employers remain responsible for ensuring safe workplaces for their employees but must obtain a separate agreement with relevant unions before issuing COVID-19 Implement security protocols. ”
Even after the agreement expires, between April 2 and December 31, film and television production employees will be able to take five temporary paid sick days for COVID-19 if they contract COVID or have another covered COVID event.
The decision also appears to end all vaccination requirements for new productions beginning after May 12. “Any production that implemented a mandatory vaccination policy for Zone A employees before May 12, 2023 may continue to apply that mandatory vaccination policy for the remainder of the production (or season, in the case of a series),” the AMPTP said in its statement .
Nonetheless, COVID-19 testing is still being carried out in certain cases involving scenes of intimacy, the unions noted in their joint statement. “SAG-AFTRA and AMPTP have agreed on a testing system for performers involved in intimate scenes to ensure their safety and well-being,” the unions said. No further details were available at the time of going to press.
Both parties note that the final date of the agreement corresponds to the scheduled date by which the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will end the federal public health emergency COVID-19.
The AMPTP has regularly updated and expanded these safety protocols with The Directors Guild of America, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, and the Teamsters and Basic Crafts unions since the agreement first came into effect in September 2020. The current version of the agreement was set to expire on April 1, but instead of extending or revising the agreement – which stakeholders had done on numerous occasions in recent years – the parties decided to end it.