The UK Screen Alliance has updated its Guidance for Covid-Safe Working in Post-Production and VFX, which is produced in consultation with UK Screen Alliance members, DCMS, the British Film Commission, BFI, Pact and Bectu.
Version 2.0 of the guidance now allows for client attendance at post and VFX facilities in a carefully managed way in order to manage infection risk, and calls for cooperation between post production companies and their clients “in sharing the responsibility for Covid-safe working particularly in dry-hire scenarios”.
Before today, the Alliance had encouraged remote editing from home over client attendance in physical spaces due to safety concerns, but the updated guidance offers an outlook for the return to ‘normal’ operations. According to the update, teams of editors and producers should be limited to six people, with larger teams split into separate cohorts of no more than six that do not meet each other face-to-face. A two-metre distance must be observed between all individuals at all times, and the guidance asks that edit teams should consider wearing masks and “particularly advises using them in grading and dubbing suites, where creative operators may meet different clients each day”.
UK Screen Alliance chief executive Neil Hatton said, “This will be the beginning of a gradual transition to normal operations in post production, as demand begins to increase and filming restarts. It will rely on all parties taking responsibility for social distancing in both their professional and personal lives to ensure that we maintain a Covid-safe environment everyone in the workplace.”
The updated guidance can be downloaded from the UK Screen Alliance website.
