General Hospital (GH) spoilers tease that what we’re hearing from Los Angeles County, which is where GH films, seems positive. On Friday, June 12the, LA County opened up for TV and film production to begin. That’s some great news for GH fans who are now watching encore episodes in place of original GH content. But we should caution everyone that it still could be some time before actual filming on the show begins.
There will be a whole slew of safety regulations that GH will have to implement and follow before filming can begin. One of those requirements is that all the cast and crew – literally everyone involved in the show – will have to be tested for COVID-19. That’s a monumental task right there, and it will necessarily take some time.
Of course, while no one wants this outcome, it’s always possible that someone from the cast or crew will test positive for COVID-19, which will add some time into the process, especially if the person who tests positive is an actor who is heavily involved in scenes that are scheduled to be filmed. Re-writes, or even delays of entire scenes might have to be undertaken, which would add time onto the process.
And even measures such as set sterilization, hand washing stations, personnel to perform safety and health checks will take time to get into place and running smoothly. It will be a lot to organize from the ground-up.
In addition, work permits for filming will need to be secured, and GH may have to be able to demonstrate that it is meeting all of the safety and precautionary requirements for preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Then the permits would need to be issued, which could necessarily take some time. It’s a big unknown at this point, but here again we seem to be tacking additional time onto the process.
New practices among the camera crew could even take time to implement. As CDL reported, social distancing measures will have to be in place during filming, which means that the actors and crew will have to maintain an appropriate amount of distance between them. That could take some creative camera work, and that could take time to develop protocols for.
Basically, this entire process will be novel for everyone involved, and it simply doesn’t seem realistic to think that it will all come together smoothly from the get-go. There will be a learning curve, and it will take time to get everything just right. It will be a whole new endeavor for everyone.
So, when should GH fans expect to see the show back up and filming? Well, it’s hard to imagine that filming will begin this week, when you consider all of the practices that we’ve discussed so far that need to be implemented and checked prior to filming. And this isn’t even considering issues such as union sign-offs, waivers, and insurer stamps of approval that will need to occur.
There are simply many moving parts to a TV show, and there are steps that need to be followed for safety at each point in the process. Of course, this isn’t to imply that GH won’t be able to be up and running relatively quickly, but it seems unlikely that it will be fully operational this week, although we’d certainly love for that to be the case.
We remain cautiously optimistic, and we’re looking forward to getting back into Port Charles and seeing what our favorite characters are up to. Right now, it just seems to be a matter of the show dealing with the realities of the COVID-19 situation and keeping everyone involved safe. Stay tuned to the ABC soap and be sure to keep CDL bookmarked for the latest General Hospital spoilers, news, and updates.
