Film Production Continues in Europe Despite Quarantine Rules

Film Production Continues in Europe Despite Quarantine Rules

Another spike in COVID-19 cases in Europe haven’t stopped production studios from filming there, as they have managed to continue production within quarantine regulations.

In the initial lock down in Europe in the Spring, studios halted production entirely to safeguard against infection. But this time around, filming in Italy, France, German, and the UK is continuing, despite the difficulties presented by the new restrictions in place and recent theater shutdowns in Germany and France.

Ever since the first lock down ended in May, the number of active productions in France has jumped enormously, especially because of the government’s new $116 million indemnity fund, which protects studios against COVID-19 related liability. “In Paris, the number of shoots for films, TV series and commercials has exploded; we’ve never had so many shoots in the city,” says Michel Gomez — head of the Paris based production logistics firm, Mission Cinema. “There isn’t a single truck available for rental right now.”

Germany has also held filming for big studio projects, including the video game adaptation Uncharted starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg as well as Lana Wachowski‘s The Matrix 4. In a similar vein, production in Italy has continued on Mission Impossible 7 starring Tom Cruise, despite COVID restrictions. The film’s Italian line producer, Marco Valerio Pugini commented that the shoot is dealing with the situation by “working in bubbles that create safety layers” between different groups of production staff.

Production has also held steady if not gone up in Sweden, which has not gone into lock down during the whole of the pandemic. This may be because of a large number of productions relocating to Sweden to avoid the virus. Last month SF Studios finished shooting the Netflix original series Snabba Cash — starring Tove Lo, Gustaf Skarsgård, and Sofia Helinin — in Stockholm as well as its period drama The Emigrants. “We were supposed to shoot in Czech Republic, but roughly four months before we started filming, we decided to relocate to Sweden because the health situation in Eastern Europe was worrying,” says Fredrik Wikström Nicastro, the senior vice president at SF Studios.

Michael Gentile’s studio, The Film TV, recently finished filming a comedy series in France. Gentile says that France’s lax attitude around testing has been causing problems. “We started filming ‘On the Verge’ in August, and we haven’t had problems because everyone on set is getting tested three times a week,” he says. “But in France, it’s chaotic. It should be enforced for everyone on set, because if only a third get tested, it’s pointless.”

Leave your thoughts on Europe’s continued production schedule below in the comments section. Readers seeking to support this type of content can visit our Patreon Page and become one of FilmBook’s patrons. Readers seeking more movie news can visit our Movie News Page, our Movie News Facebook Page, and our Movie News Twitter Page. Want up-to-the-minute notification? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Pinterest, and Flipboard. This movie news was brought to our attention by Variety.