More than ever, the pandemic is disrupting TV sets. Over the past few weeks, cases of COVID-19 have forced the filming of many series to stop, such as Alerts, My mother, The emperor and Indefensible.
Posted at 7:00 a.m.
In June, producer Michel d’Astous was forced to suspend filming of the psychological drama My mother when an actor tested positive for coronavirus. Expected in the fall on TVA, the series starring Chantal Fontaine paints the portrait of a woman who receives a diagnosis of bipolarity at the age of 58, while she is finishing a stay in prison.
Given the rules in place that a comedian who contracts COVID-19 isolates himself for 10 days following the appearance of the first symptoms, production stopped for almost a week. Even the director François Bouvier (Breakups, 30 lives) fell ill.
This interruption caused headaches for Duo Productions, the company behind My mother. Especially for a question of money.
“Four days to resume, it goes up a bill,” says Michel d’Astous, who also signs the texts of the soap opera with Anne Boyer. “One-hour dramas for less than $40,000 a day, I don’t know many of them. »
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, THE PRESS
Filming of My mothernew series by authors Anne Boyer and Michel d’Astous
Fortunately, the government fund that helps cover the costs of stopping filming a TV series or movie due to coronaviral infections still exists.
Scheduling has also complicated Duo Productions’ postponement operation, especially in times of labor shortages. “I want to postpone the filming, but our actors are engaged elsewhere afterwards. The technicians too… Last week, we brought in a pole vaulter from Quebec for two days because our pole vaulter had tested positive and there was no one available in Montreal. It’s not easy”, testifies Michel d’Astous.
“It’s dropping like flies! »
Outraged My mother, The emperor is also one of the series that had an enforced hiatus recently. New offering from Michelle Allen (Runaway, The Breakaway) that Noovo will broadcast next winter, it traces the rise of an attacker and shows how his victims toil for the truth to come to light.
“I really had to stop filming for several days,” producer Sophie Deschênes (Sovimage) confirms on the phone.
PHOTO PHILIPPE BOIVIN, THE PRESS
Filming of the series My mother
The seventh wave of COVID-19 hitting Quebec greatly affects audiovisual production, comments Mme Deschenes.
“No production escapes it. There are so many cases everywhere. On my productions, it drops like flies! “, reveals the one who has also just managed the filming ofBefore the crash for Radio-Canada andHotel for VAT.
Anna and Arnaud, Alerts, Counter offer and Indefensiblethe TVA daily news, also momentarily fell in battle, says Nicola Merola, president of Pixcom.
The return of the mask
To curb this carnage, most producers have made it compulsory to wear a mask at work. Fabienne Larouche, Michel Trudeau and Guillaume Lespérance, who have just started filming Statusthe medical fiction that will succeed District 31 in September on ICI Télé, have notably adopted this strategy.
These are more restrictive standards than elsewhere since in the spring, the Quebec government dropped all sanitary measures.
Public Health no longer requires the wearing of a mask, but it is not realistic to think that we can ask 30-40 people to be together for 32 days without there being an outbreak.
Michel d’Astous, producer
“Life outside has resumed, and the variants are clearly very contagious,” notes Nicola Merola.
“If there were no masks, honestly, the outbreaks would increase quite exponentially, estimates Sophie Deschênes. Because in 2020 and 2021, people were going straight home after their day at work. Nobody had a party the weekend. No one wanted to catch COVID because everyone was scared to death. Today, the spirit has changed. »
The worst to come?
The crisis currently being experienced by filming productions makes us fear the worst for the fall, in particular because of the return to class.
Senior director of original productions at Urbania, Annie Bourdeau recently wrapped the filming of a new fiction titled seem to gowhich Télé-Québec intends to present in January 2023. Although no interruption in filming has affected her series, the producer is apprehensive about the rest.
“I’m talking about it, and I’m not looking forward to it. This is a major issue right now. »
Same story with Myriam Verreault. The director of 5e Rankwho will take over the reins in almost a month, recently contracted COVID-19 while filming, in tandem with Brigitte Poupart, the short film Until We Dieproduced by Voyelles Films.
“I did 120 days of filming in a pandemic without catching it once,” says Myriam Verreault in an interview.
It was my first shoot without a mask in two years. I was super happy to shoot without. I had a feeling of freedom. But two days later, boom! I was positive.
Myriam Verreault, director
“It’s not the easy summer we expected,” she continues.
Uncertainty has not finished hovering over the television industry.
“Every morning, at 8:15 a.m., I think: ‟Oh my God…Are we making our day?” summarizes Michel d’Astous. Currently filming a series is like playing Russian roulette. »