The Extreme Staycation

Location: London, UK  COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown I love the soap "Neighbours" as I have mentioned before in this blog. Well, I think we have now entered into episodes which were filmed with social distancing. By and large you can't really see it, but I did notice that the coffee shop (Harold's) has suddenly got a whole load of new plants (presumably to replace people and make it look less obviously empty) and that the extras have dwindled to single figures. Neighbours was one of the first shows to go back into production around the world.  I believe Emmerdale was the first to resume in the UK. So far, there has been no mention of a global pandemic and I'm wondering whether there will be.  I know they are going to work it in to the storylines for EastEnders.  I guess the others have to work out if they want the soap to continue to occupy the "real world" or whether they decide to keep the likes of Erinsborough, Weatherfield or Hollyoaks in a...

Location: London, UK COVID-19 / Coronavirus Outbreak Lockdown Lots of casting directors have been extremely open and generous with their time during the lockdown and have been doing Q&A's live on Instagram. There is general optimism that work in the world of commercials, film and television will be getting back in production fairly soon, with social distancing measures in place. This is great news and hopefully will happen. My query is this: the dramas or adverts being made, are they going to reflect our current world or the one we left on the 23rd March 2020? I can slightly answer my own question - any drama that was mid-filming and set pre-Covid will likely not change, that would be madness. But the on-going dramas and soaps will be able to have adapted their stories to encompass our new situation. Commercials - this is where I am most interested.  Just prior to lockdown I auditioned for a commercial which involved hugging.  That commer...