EXCLUSIVE: Discussions are underway between Amazon Studios executives and all of the studio’s upcoming U.S.-based series productions about making Covid vaccinations for actors as well as those who come into contact with them on set mandatory. I hear the talks have been going on for awhile, and the goal is to implement the policy across the board.
It would require everyone working in “Zone A,” which consists of the actors and those working in close proximity to them, to get vaccinated. I hear the mandate would apply to all upcoming productions, not those that are currently filming, and rare exceptions — largely based on disability or religious beliefs — would be considered.
The new return-to-work protocols agreed upon by the Hollywood unions and major studios last month give producers “the option to implement mandatory vaccination policies for casts and crew in Zone A on a production-by-production basis.”
Amazon Studios would join Netflix which recently adopted a blanket mandatory vaccination policy for the Zone A personnel on all of their U.S. productions with similar exceptions.
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For traditional studios, it’s been largely a case-by-case basis, with Universal Studio Group’ Chicago Med and Gaslit among series that have adopted the protocol.