Producers Guild of India issues clarification on shooting resumption guidelines

MUMBAI: The Film & TV Producers Guild of India (the guild) today issued a clarification relating to shooting guidelines that would be put in place once the lockdown courtesy the Covid2019 pandemic is lifted and filming is permitted by the various governments.  Certain media outlets have carried reports detailing the list of protocols that would need to be followed while filming, sourcing it to the guild.

A release issued by the guild today had the following to state:

“A work-in-progress document prepared by the Guild of draft guidelines for resumption of shooting activities has recently been circulating widely in the media and industry.

This is to clarify that this document is only an early internal draft prepared by the Guild in preparedness for the future resumption of shooting activities. Any final safety protocols and guidelines will be formalised only after comprehensive consultations with government officials, medical professionals and relevant industry bodies.”

As readers may recollect, film and TV productions have been stalled for more than a month and a half and broadcasters have been airing reruns of old shows on their channels. The cost of constructed sets  and rentals of different shooting floors and studios have been accumulating in certain cases. And both producers and broadcasters have been working on finding a solution around this along with studio and shooting floor owners.

It may also be recalled, a publication carried a story quoting minister of information and broadcasting Prakash Javadekar saying that film and TV shoots could start in response to a plea by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation, if the Maharashtra government gives the production sector the go ahead.

But since then, the Maharashtra government lead by Udhav Thackeray took a decision to move into Lockdown 3.0 in order to get a handle on the spread of the Sars Cov2 virus.

Meanwhile, reports have appeared about TV productions commencing in Australia and a local publication carried a news report that Karnataka is likely to green signal film and TV shoots from next week.