Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1335010
66 W I N T E R 2 0 2 1 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y 66 W I N T E R 2 0 2 1 I C A S Q U A R T E R L Y contact tracing had yet to be done. Since they couldn't reveal who this individual was, it seemed to be left there until I spoke up. I said, "We body mic everybody, so my team defi nitely had contact." Sure enough, it was someone we miked up earlier that day. My crew was terrifi ed. I was terrifi ed. After a meeting with the UPM (where I was in tears), I went home to sleep the day off. At that point, we had a call sheet in hand to fi lm on Monday, but that turned out to just be the beginning of our disruptions. A two-day shutdown was ordered by the studio. In a way, I was relived. I need the work and the MPI hours as we all do right now. The uncertainty which we are all used to in this business seemed even more profound than usual. But I also couldn't imagine going into work on Monday after everything that was revealed to us. So, Monday and Tuesday turned into two idle days where COVID testing for the whole cast and crew would occur. This fi rst day of testing revealed just how leaky our set was. Sixteen positives in total were revealed to us during a company-wide Zoom meeting that following Thursday. As one would expect, our shutdown lasted longer than the original Monday and Tuesday plan. It was now a 14-day shutdown. I embraced the mellow household family time and was happy to not be working. However, I knew that some sort of mental ramp-up would have to occur before I stepped onto a set again. DEAR DIARY: We Have A New Schedule, New Protocols, & New Zone. Our 14-day shutdown turned into a 17-day shutdown because it bumped into the Thanksgiving break. As memos emerged, it sounded like things were about to get stricter on set with added safety protocols and a new "Purple Zone." This new shutdown emergence also required a testing ramp-up after the Thanksgiving holiday. A test the day before Thanksgiving and then two more tests before anyone returned to set. This immediately made me feel safer. The details of the Purple Zone made me feel safer, yet. Only if you're in the Purple Zone can you be within eight feet of the cast while they are maskless prior to and during the fi lming of a scene. Of the fi ve people on my team, two would be upgraded to the Purple Zone; the boom operator and the sound utility. The sound trainee, music playback operator, and myself would remain in the Red Zone. The new Purple Zone also included 10 PCR tests per week! One per day that ran through an on-site lab and the other that ran through our usual off-site, 24-hour result turnaround lab. Ten swabs a week for my two front line heroes who get fancy purple badges on their armbands! Any joking aside, it really felt like this was being taken very seriously by the studio and production. DEAR DIARY: Things Are Improving! In addition to these stricter protocols, we also seemed to have a growing Health & Safety team. We had an H&S manager who was probably very underappreciated as most of their work was done behind the scenes without us seeing it. This person was the leader of this new and emerging department. However, the lack of set presence was problematic. As we started back up after our shutdown, a new face and presence joined us. This person seemed to be a "Co-H&S manager," supervising the set and making safety announcements alongside the fi rst AD every morning. This person immediately became beloved by the cast and crew. Not only could you tell they actually