Enable High Contrast Mode
Disable High Contrast Mode
June 11, 2020
Read the Full Online Discussion Transcript
The return to production is imminent, and the excitement of getting back on set and collaboratively crafting our art is balanced with a shared determination to keep each other safe, healthy and well. As producer and NYPA board member Flo Mitchell-Brown stated, “everyone’s going to have to come together on this…we all have to be reasonable and we gotta be thoughtful and mindful. And the most important thing we have to do is we’ve got to protect each other.”
June 9th marked the start of phase 2 for the reopening of Ulster County, and our industry is now making decisions as to what the reopening of production will entail. Albany Film Commissioner and panelist Deb Goedeke suggests a “cautious optimism” as we look at the safety details and rebuild our on set protocols anew.
Communication and working together mentally before we do so physically, is going to be the best way to ensure a safe return to production. The past six months have shown us many things, including how connected we really are. As Stockade Works founder Mary Stuart Masterson noted, it is important that we recognize that connection, “that the entire state of New York sees itself as one New York”. We are in this together, and hopefully we and our neighboring areas can work in support of each other.
While productions plan to open in phases and monitor the situation closely, New Yorkers are prepared to come together and do what it takes to get back to work. Having been the hardest hit state, as producer and panelist Chris Collins mentions, “New York is as prepared as possible. And that’s a good thing.”
Stockade Works is looking forward to hosting many new crew training programs as we ready ourselves for the return of Film and TV production. And as Stockade Works Executive Director Marie Nachsin said, production will not only resume, but it will do so “in full force and probably bigger and better than ever before.”