On Wednesday evening, Warner. Bros. Television Presidents Susan Rovner and Brett Paul held a conference call to shed some light on how the studio is planning to combat the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. According to Variety, the hope is that work will be able to resume soon, but a lot will have to be done to make that possible.
Laying out some of what might need to change in future, it was explained that love scenes might be eliminated to deal with actors not necessarily wanting to be in close contact with each other, and fight scenes may also require the use of social distancing.
How will that work?
According to Paul, stunts that require "hand to hand, face to face, requiring physical contact" like traditional fight scenes will probably have to be axed. However, larger stunts which take place from at least six feet away "may still be okay."
"Now we want to be really clear, no one is dictating that the Flash should now talk down bad guys from his bedroom via Zoom. That would be a terrible, terrible episode of ‘The Flash,'" Rovner noted. "But we are saying there are going to be very real challenges ahead, and it is not business as usual."
From a practical standpoint, writers rooms and casting are going to remain virtual for the foreseeable future, while post-production is also going to be remote for the most part. On set, everyone except actors who are shooting scenes will have to wear face coverings, gloves, and possibly even gowns, while access to outdoor locations is likely to be much more limited.
Changes like these are likely to be made for film and television until a vaccine becomes widely available.