How the filming of Australian TV lifestyle, drama and reality shows is changing in the COVID-19 era
Australian TV production is resuming on some of the nation’s biggest shows, but some are still in limbo, waiting to see how they can continue. See what changes are afoot.
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THE Better Homes and Gardens team have become accustomed to the police occasionally turning up to their outdoor shoots in recent weeks.
Despite the presence of a $150,000 camera and a big, fluffy boom mic, a small group of mask-wearing crew observing social distancing restrictions while filming have caught the attention of suspicious residents who “dobbed” them into authorities.
It’s just one of the unexpected dramas the Seven Network lifestyle show has had to contend with as they continue filming the 25-year-old series in the time of coronavirus.
Drama, game and reality shows including Gogglebox, The Chase and Neighbours have adapted their shoots to satisfy government health and safety guidelines and protect their cast and crew.
Measures include splitting staff into teams, temperature checking, enforcing the 1.5 metres distance, some actors doing their own hair and makeup, wearing masks and banning mobile phones which are problematic to keep sterile.
And they are getting creative with storylines and segments – kissing scenes for Neighbours will now be replaced with Bold and the Beautiful-style “longing looks” while all “if we need a character to throw a punch, we will restructure the scene and make a virtue of the fact that we never saw that moment,” according to executive producer Jason Herbison.
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Better Homes and Gardens executive producer Russell Palmer said outdoor shoots, such as the garden segment filmed on Friday featuring host Johanna Griggs and popular fashion designer Camilla Franks at Sydney home and with Dr Harry Cooper in regional NSW, are considered essential for viewers.
“When you are home in isolation, you crave to be outdoors,” Palmer said.
“The important thing with this show on a Friday night is that it is an escape.
“We know the elephant in the room is coronavirus, but we don’t need to say that on the show as they would during the news, so we have to create a show with the mindset of people sitting at home not able to travel.”
While Better Homes’ stock in trade is exactly what the average punter can cook, fix, build, pet or grow at home, Palmer said there have been segment tweaks inspired by the pandemic’s impact on everyday life.
Gardening, pet care, meal prep and recipe inspiration are among the activities topping people’s self-isolation to-do lists.
“With Sam Wood’s personal training, it’s about the little things you can do in the ad breaks to just get up and move instead of going to the gym,” he said.
“People are now reassessing their whole lives – what they really need as opposed to what they thought they needed – so it’s a good chance for us to do the same.”
Foxtel’s Gogglebox has continued to air throughout the virus crisis as its format could be quickly adapted to satisfy distancing and hygiene requirements.
Older cast members Mick and Di Kershaw and Emmie Silbery were unable to continue because their respective ages put them into the high risk category and producers didn’t want them in contact with crew during camera set-ups.
And Jad Nehmetallah has watched TV along with his friends Sarah Marie and Matty Fahd via a laptop to protect their new baby Malik.
Seven’s game show The Chase resumed filming this week after host Andrew O’Keefe took time out to address his health issues and production remained closed in the early weeks of government COVID-19 restrictions.
As well as the recommended health and safety measures, the new episodes will look slightly different with the repositioning of host and contestants on-set.
Singing contest The Voice is expected back on air on May 24. It was among 120 shows forced to halt production when the government declared the ban of mass gatherings and strict enforcement of distancing in workplaces.
They had already banked the blind auditions and battle round episodes and could follow American Idol’s lead which finished this year’s season with contestants and judges literally phoning in their performances from their homes across the country.
Judges including Katy Perry and Lionel Richie were filmed separately.
Viewers have become accustomed to watching iPhone footage in lockdown, with even superstars recording themselves on phones for Lady Gaga’s Together at Home concert.
Channel 9 could connect Boy George and Kelly Rowland from overseas, or even ship them a famous red chair to sit in.
Channel 10 filmed British-based judge Craig Revel-Horwood at home in London for the final of Dancing With the Stars when he could not fly to Australia.
Meanwhile Dannii Minogue told The Masked Singer fans on Friday “our recording schedule has been pushed back, as everyone’s has. I hope we can get another series made soon. I feel like those fun shows are what we need now.”
The Block is expected to resume filming in May. With construction still considered an essential service, building has continued on the homes, in posh Melbourne suburb Brighton, despite the cast not being on set.
The producers and cast of Foxtel’s prison drama Wentworth are keeping an eye on the Neighbours return-to-work as they consider options to possibly get back on set in late May.
Programs including The Bachelor, Five Bedrooms and The Real Housewives of Melbourne are also watching the Ramsay St action as many actors and crew try to access unemployment benefits as they wait for Government advice on the next lifting of restrictions, due on May 11.
Jane Hall, who joined the Wentworth cast this year as prison GM Ann Reynolds, said everything remains up in the air.
“The intention is of course that we make the remaining ten episodes, but when and how remains to be seen. Wentworth isn’t the kind of show you can adequately socially distance within when you’re making it,” she explained.
“If you’re not getting shivved or spat at or bashed or pashing someone or part of something even more full on you’re not doing your job properly.
“I’m thrilled for Neighbours that they’re able to create a template for people in the arts about how it can be done if it’s successful.”
Bernard Curry, who plays prison officer Jake Stewart on Wentworth, is hoping the drama could resume filming by mid year.
“When we got stood down at Wentworth it was devastating for everybody. There was a potential that if it went on too long they wouldn’t be able to resurrect the show and it’d be cancelled. As in, terminated. That would be a really disappointing end to one of the greatest Australian dramas we’ve ever seen. I’m a genuine fan of the show. It deserves to have a fitting end and not end prematurely with no resolution,” he said.
“I’m feeling positive we’ll be able to get back into it and finish it off. Which will be great for the crew, they’ve been having a hard time being stood down, contract workers and casual workers and people who work on crews have fallen through the cracks of the JobKeeper allowance. That’s been devastating for the crew of Wentworth. The sooner we can get back into it, with caveats.
Curry said there have been discussions of tweaking Wentworth’s scripts to reflect the virus.
“We could write a virus infection scenario within the prison, that is a serious situation we face in our prisons, it’s happening right now, who do they keep in, who do they let go. Ideas are being thrown up,” he said.