Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1251534
43 SAG-AFTRA | Spring 2020 | sagaftra.org to elected leaders during this time via email and phone to make their voices heard. Lobbying continues for future relief efforts. GET TING BACK TO WORK SAFELY The world may have changed, seemingly overnight, but there's still a need for the work members do — perhaps more so with many people safer at home and hungry for news and entertainment. Voiceover performers have seen an increase in job opportunities during this crisis. For those without home studios, the stay-at-home orders have provided the impetus to build out home facilities to create work remotely. Late-night and daytime talk shows have returned to television with hosts broadcasting from home. The Daily Show has temporarily rebranded itself The Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah. Saturday Night Live also returned with remotely produced episodes. Sesame Street aired a special, Elmo's Playdate, on April 14 to help kids and families around the globe who may be feeling isolated feel connected in this time of uncertainty. The special featured members Anne Hathaway, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Tracee Ellis Ross in segments recorded remotely. In what could be considered a grand experiment for producing scripted programming virtually, the CBS courthouse drama All Rise returned to production and took on the coronavirus as part of its plot. Shot remotely using FaceTime, Zoom and other online tech, actors were recorded in their homes for the series finale, which aired May 4. While much work is happening from home, broadcaster members face the challenge of on-the-street reporting while observing social distancing guidelines, and the possibility of harassment from members of the public in a time of anti-journalism political rhetoric. As sets and other workplaces come back to life, the union understands it all needs to be done cautiously so that SAG-AFTRA members and other workers are not put in harm's way. The SAG-AFTRA President's Blue Ribbon Commission on Safety contacted epidemiologists, labor relations, and A ll SAG-AFTRA members have been impacted in some way by the coronavirus pandemic. Many are experiencing economic hardships after work disappeared overnight when productions around the globe shut down. But for members who have been infected with the coronavirus, the pandemic has hit particularly close to home. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson (left) were among the first SAG-AFTRA members to publicly state they contracted COVID-19. The couple turned their recovery experience into a chance to spread a positive message. "We are all in this together. Flatten the curve," Tom Hanks wrote on Instagram, a week after going into self-quarantine when he was diagnosed in March while filming in Australia. Hanks said it took two weeks to feel better. Hanks and Wilson returned to Los Angeles and he went on to host Saturday Night Live from his home on April 11. Broadcast member and Good Morning America co-host George Stephanopoulos tested positive but remained asymptomatic after caring for his wife, member Ali Wentworth, during her own recovery from the virus. "It's very 'morphy,'" Debi Mazar wrote on Instagram about her bout with COVID-19. "One day I feel crappy and the next I'm normal. Today my lungs are heavy, but I'm tough. I can breathe, and I'm going to heal here, in my own home!" Recording artist member Pink recovered from the virus and pledged to donate $1 million to healthcare professionals on the frontline. Tragically, some members have succumbed to the disease. Among them, Mark Blum, a former SAG-AFTRA board member from New York who served from 2007– 2013; actors Julie Bennett, Allen Garfield and Rick May; performer Roy Horn; and recording artists Joe Diffie, John Prine, Alan Merrill and Adam Schlesinger. INSTAGRAM Rita Wilson and Tom Hanks IN THIS TOGETHER COVID continues on page 53