This is encouraging news for film/TV productions planning to use a quarantine bubble to keep their casts and crew isolated from the rest of the world during filming to protect them from COVID-19.
Tyler Perry, who introduced the model for his BET series Sistas and The Oval, shooting at his Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta, has successfully gone through the first week of production on Sistas. Since filming started last Wednesday, the cast and crew were tested on Thursday and Monday, and all tested negative both times, I hear.
Sistas now is close to the halftime mark on its Season 2 production as Perry typically films a season of his shows in 2.5 weeks. If Sistas completes its production next week as planned, The Oval’s team would start arriving on July 30-31.
Sistas originally was slated to begin filming July 14, but a backlog at local labs that handle COVID-19 tests pushed start of production to July 15.
The cast and crew of the series had been quarantined at the Tyler Perry Studios since around July 9, when actors were flown in from Los Angeles and New York on Perry’s private plane. (The crew of Perry’s shows is primarily local, based in Atlanta.)
Filming of Sistas is following the detailed guidelines Perry unveiled more than a month ago. It employs a strict protocol that involves testing and sequestering the shows’ cast and crew on the sprawling, 330-acre lot of Tyler Perry Studios. Everyone including Perry, who is directing all episodes, will remain on the lot for the entire duration of each shoot.
In addition to film/TV productions, the quarantine bubble model is also used in professional sports, including the NBA and UFC.