March 31, 2023
Directed by Thea Sharrock (Me Before You); Adapted from Katherine Applegate’s children’s book by Mike White. Plot: Just off a highway exit, the Big Top Mall is very different from other malls, mainly because it includes a circus run by showman Mack (Bryan Cranston) with a number of animal acts, including the headliner, a silverback gorilla dubbed “The One and Only Ivan” (voiced by Sam Rockwell), his elephant friend Stella (Angelina […]
Last week, I wrote a “Back to Work” piece that included a few tidbits about how Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World: Dominion was renewing production. Thanks to a recent New York Times piece that was a tad more official, we can get a clearer picture of what’s involved with getting such an enormous production back up and running after being shut down with nary a warning. Much of the move to England and […]
More good news for those hoping to get back to work comes from the Great White North, as unions in British Columbia have come to an agreement with a number of U.S. studios so that shows can resume production in Vancouver, according to Deadline. This is a big deal, since problems between the two parties shut down production over safety protocols on Sony Picture TV’s The Good Doctor in June after some […]
In a somewhat shocking article posted in yesterday’s L.A. Times, the venerable paper called into account the amount of disparities and prejudice inherent in the “below the line” staff and crew working on film, television and in theater. The article states that the unions representing the likes of makeup artist, grips, film editors, set directors, as well as others, are still primarily white, making it difficult for crafts people of color to […]
Yesterday, I wrote a piece about how someone testing positive for COVID-19 could affect a production, but we haven’t really seen how a COVID outbreak in a particular area where production has resumed might affect that show until now. A new Variety story has gone into some depth on how New Zealand reopened for international productions after being hit by COVID before becoming one of the first countries to fully contain the […]
I’ve written a few columns now about shows resuming production, but a question that keeps coming up and will keep coming up is, “What happens if someone tests positive?” Some might assume that it means a production has to shut down again immediately, but that’s not necessarily true. Since last week, there have been some great developments, most notably the fact that California-based Quantgene has opened its labs to offer 24-hour COVID […]
Over the weekend, NBC News published an enlightening piece on how shows are starting to get back into production with a few tales from two of the productions that have stepped forward as pioneers in the effort. Filmmaker Deon Taylor (The Intruder) wrote a script for a movie called Don’t Fear, which takes place during the COVID pandemic, but he then had to find a way to film it. About […]
Oscar-winning filmmaker Damien Chazelle (La La Land, Whiplash) has made a 9-minute all-vertical short film for Apple, dubbed Vertical Cinema, using the latest line of iPhones. Chazelle is not the first filmmaker to use the iPhone to make movies, as Steven Soderbergh has now made a number of feature films using the consumer tech camera. What makes this short film different is that Chazelle wanted to focus specifically on the ability of the iPhone to shoot in vertical […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown quite a lofty wrench into the normal cycle of TV production, as many fall shows that would have been in production from sometime in June haven’t even begun yet. According to a Deadline story, this might change this month and next, but so many questions still remain. CBS‘ S.W.A.T. is slated to begin production in Los Angeles today despite there still being a growing number of […]
My name is Edward Douglas, and I’m the new Associate Editor here at Below the Line, so you’ve probably been seeing my name pop up around the site over the past week. Here at Below the Line, we’re dedicated to everyone working in film and television production, and right now, we’re hoping to offer regular news and insights to pave the way for what we all want right now: to get back […]