The pandemic shut down many film sets around the world but the industry in Malta still managed to go on, despite restrictions and limitations.
Film sets typically see a lot of people working in the same space and the challenges of coordinating all of them are numerous. Notwithstanding the cost of maintaining protocols, work on films here continued with minor disruption.
Malcolm Ellul has played different crew roles over the years and the coronavirus added another to his expertise: COVID-19 manager. The responsibility for overseeing coronavirus protocols on set and strive to minimise the risk of transmission on set falls on him.
“Malta is one of the few countries that have been able to continue filming right now,” Ellul told Times of Malta.
“Most countries have had to shut down sets while we have managed to host a huge Apple TV production. So, in the eyes of the world, I would say we are doing a good job and it is attracting the right attention.”
One of the main challenges of hosting large-scale productions is flying in actors and crews and figuring out who needs to quarantine, making sure everyone is getting tested and that both cast and crew are sticking to their assigned work ‘bubbles’.
Ellul says the biggest challenge for production has been the unexpected cost of integrating COVID management into productions.
“Different productions have different budgets, of course, and, in many cases, these would have been decided and finalised years prior,” he said.
“The biggest cost is PCR testing. Because we are getting tested so frequently, we have to work with private labs and, usually, that is somewhere in the region of €120 per test, multiplied by your cast and crew members about twice a week.
“Then, there are the indirect costs of accommodating people. Transport costs also run up as we do not want people to mix. So, where two coaches might have been fine, we now need to use over 100 vehicles to transport the same amount of people.”
Producer Winston Azzopardi said COVID costs shot up during filming.
“Of course, our aim is not only to keep productions on track but to keep everyone safe and, though we had no obligation to do so, we made the decision to commit to certain standards,” Azzopardi said.
“On Jurassic World, we had some 400 people in total, cast, crew and extras, getting tested three times a week. We also chartered planes to fly in the cast and we still observed quarantine before allowing anybody on the set, all of which inevitably adds up costs.”
The production also implemented a system called trackworx, a digital tracking system that monitors every person on set and records when people came into close contact with each other to facilitate contact tracing.
Malta Producers Association chair, Simon Sansone, estimated that costs for film sets could rise by anywhere from five to 15% to cover COVID prevention measures.
“It causes a strain on all productions and, with some, this cost and uncertainty can be enough to be prohibitive since there is always a hanging risk of having to interrupt filming and temporarily shut down, which would cause costs to spiral,” Sansone said.
“Insurance no longer covers us in the event of a COVID-related shutdown. So, whereas in the past investors may have been more willing to take a chance on a production because there was enough confidence to push through, now there is a lot more hesitation.
“That said, the industry has been quite resilient and, despite the odds, films are being shot. We will continue being careful while also hoping the vaccine will help return normality to our industry,” Sansone said.