Film & TV Production COVID-19 Guidelines - A Breakdown All In One Place.

There’s been a lot of information published about film and television productions resuming, different countries opening up for filming at different times and various COVID-19 guidelines and recommendations from various film authorities for producers.

And while we wait for the Aussie government to make a decision on whether local quotas will be imposed on SVOD platforms (fingers crossed) and whether they’ll underwrite insurance risks (double fingers crossed) [update: they sort of have!], we thought it might be useful to break this all down in one spot, for your benefit.

It should be noted that although most countries have resumed or have scheduled to resume filming, there are still a number of considerations, including immigration policies and associated issues, each jurisdiction’s quarantining requirements (which then becomes a budgetary issue), insurability of the production, and the implementation of government recommended, or required, COVID-19 safety guidelines.

Check back in regularly as we’ll be updating regularly.

Current as at September 1, 2020.

Country	COVID-19 Guidelines & Resources
Australia	The Australian Screen Sector Task Force have developed the COVID-Safe Guidelines, which were released on May 29, 2020 and will continue to be updated. Screen Australia has also released a resource directory for the Australian screen industry, which includes outlines of the financial initiatives available to producers. Significantly, Screen Australia has launched the COVID-19 Budget Support Fund, which will cover additional costs for green-lit productions to implement their COVID-Safety and Risk Assessment Plans to allow them to go into production safely. More details and applications can be submitted here.
New Zealand	Screen Safe’s protocols are here.
United States of America	The U.S. is a big place so we've compiled a similar table to this one breaking down available guidelines per U.S. state and territory. Check it out here.
Canada	No federal guidelines published as yet. Manitoba Media Production Industry COVID-19 Health and Safety Guide is here. Producers working in British Columbia will be expected to develop their own workplace safety plans and use these WorkSafeBC protocols as a possible template. The BC Safety Guidelines will also need to be followed. Quebec rolled out its guidelines (in French...sigh). Ontario’s Section 21 Committee finalized and approved a set of COVID-19 health and safety guidelines for productions filming in the province. The document can be found here. All of Ontarioa's reopening COVID-19 guidelines and resources are here.
United Kingdom	British Film Commission released the Working Safely During COVID-19 in Film and High-end TV Drama Production guidelines. U.K. Screen Alliance published the Guidance for Safe Working in Post-Production and VFX during the COVID-19 Pandemic and can be found here. Screen Producers Ireland are currently preparing guidelines.
Belgium	Screen Brussels guidelines are here.
Bulgaria	Bulgarian safety guidelines are here.
Croatia	Recommendations for filming during COVID-19 are here and further guidelines here.
Czech Republic	Czech Film Commission/Czech Film Fund recommendations here. Importantly, the guidelines permit performers from wearing masks while working but require testing proof every 14 days. International cast and crew must test negative for the virus before boarding a flight to the country, and within 72 hours of arrival, undergo a second test, and remain quarantined until they receive a negative result. See guidelines for more detail.
Denmark	Danish guidelines are here.
Finland	Audiovisual Producers in Finland released recommended guidelines for production during COVID-19.
France	Paris Film Office released guidelines that must be met in order to film. Tip: You'll need a translator. France's film guilds and unions have agreed on production guidelines for filming during the pandemic, and are now with the Labor Minister for final sign off. It is expected that budgets will need to be increased in order to meet the production standards. More here.
Germany	SARS-CoV-2 Safety Guidelines issued by the German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs are here.
Hungary	The National Film Institute of Hungary released protocals here.
Iceland	No production guidelines issued, but specific quarantining requirements issued by Iceland’s Film Commission. There is a 14-day quarantine rule for anyone coming into Iceland. However, producers can apply for an exemption, permitting cast and crews to enter and begin production immediately provided that they remain isolated on set and in their hotel. Request form for modified quarantine can be found here.
Lithuania	Safety Recommendations are here.
Norway	Guide for safe execution of film production was developed by Virke with the support of the Norwegian Film Institute and can be found here.
Poland	Safety Rules on Film Sets issued by Polish Film Institute are here.
Portugal	The Portuguese Film Commission issued detailed guidelines and requirements productions must meet in order to film.
Serbia	Health and safety measures and recommendations for the safe functioning of film productions during COVID-19 are here and have been adopted by the Serbian Government. Productions will also have to follow the general recommendations. Note, you'll need a translator for these! Otherwise, feel free to get in touch as we've done the heavy lifting and translated these to English.
Slovakia	Public Health Authority and Slovakia Film Commission protocols are here. Among the new protocols, anyone entering the country must first undergo a 14-day quarantine (except for those with proof they are COVID-19 negative). See guidelines for more detail. By the way, Slovakia Film Commission offers online location scouting so international crews don’t have travel in person while searching for locations and the cash rebate has been raised to 33%.
Spain	Spanish Film Commission released guidelines that can be found here.
Ukraine	Recommendations For Shoots In Ukraine are here.
European Film Commission represented countries	European Film Commission issued guidelines are here.