The City of New Orleans announced yesterday that it will welcome
back film production crews, starting next week. The first production scheduled
to return to filming in New Orleans is an Amazon Prime series which was filming
before the city shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Major studios, such as
Disney, Sony, and CBS, are also planning to return to shooting in the upcoming
months.
Productions expecting to resume or begin filming are expected to
abide by strict health guidelines proposed by the city's film industry guilds
and unions. Some of these measures include reduced crew sizes, increased
testing for cast and crew, and several other sanitation measures. Each set is
expected to have a Health and Safety supervisor and a sanitation company that
is able to clean sets before, during, and after filming.
Carroll Morton, the Director of Film in New Orleans, established
that the return of film production in the city will be beneficial for
employment, as the majority of film crews will be operated by 85 percent New
Orleans locals.
