Davis Wright Forms Entertainment Industry Reopening Advisory Group

As millions of Americans turned to television and movies for diversion and comfort amid the coronavirus pandemic and resulting business shutdowns, the companies that create that content were left scratching their heads about how to resume business safely when they are allowed.

Davis Wright Tremaine launched a new group in hopes of providing the answers.

The West Coast-based firm put together an interdisciplinary team whose express purpose has been to facilitate the reopening of the Hollywood entertainment industry, one of several such law firm advisory groups spawned in the era of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

In mid-March, when California like many states was initially placed under a strict shelter-in-place order — Hollywood production teams and studios were included. But as the state slowly began to reopen under a deliberate, four-phase plan that began May 8, Davis Wright decided to lean on its media and entertainment reputation, putting together a team to advise clients as the state looked to reopen. The law firm has represented numerous media companies including Comedy Central, A24, HBO and Amazon Studios.

The firm's advisory group is composed of attorneys from Davis Wright's labor and employment, health care and entertainment practices and is co-led by entertainment partners Jon Segal and Al Wickers.

Many law firms have set up dedicated COVID-19 advisory groups as firms look to establish clear branding in uncertain times. But few were tailoring the group to a specific industry as Davis Wright is doing.

"We started putting this together … as we saw the reopening of production on the horizon," Segal said.

As for Hollywood's future, media and entertainment were not included in the phase two reopening stage in effect when this article was written and California Gov. Gavin Newsom had not set a date for when entertainment companies could resume production. In Los Angeles County, local officials said that the area's stay-at-home order would likely continue through July.

The Los Angeles entertainment industry alone employs 220,860 people, with about 150,370 employed in the motion picture and sound recording industries.

And while many companies found workarounds for preproduction by, for example, creating virtual writers' rooms, in-person production poses the same challenges facing many restaurants and retailers. Like in restaurants, in studios it is inherently difficult to follow social distancing guidelines that require people to stay six feet apart, the Davis Wright attorneys noted. Additionally, companies have to negotiate with powerful unions and established detailed disinfection and employee training protocols.

With little industry-specific guidance from the state, the attorneys were planning for various scenarios and contingencies. Would county-by-county ordinances encourage production companies to shoot in a more relaxed county? If a company set up a production in another state, would they have to follow California regulations?

"There are many considerations," said entertainment partner Elizabeth Zee, another member of the Davis Wright working group. "It won't be a one-size-fits-all solution. It will vary production by production."

Reality television shows and documentaries, for example, don't require the large crews and onerous equipment that a movie production demands. The law firm had already gotten several requests from clients looking to send out their correspondents after nearly two months of shut down. Zee anticipates other changes as well. "No more crowd scenes," Zee said. "I also suspect there will be a lot more CGI and green screens."

But the advisory group was in a wait-and-see mindset as federal, state and local governments weighed new, and often varying, guidelines. "We want to be in a position where, when reopening happens, we're ready to go," Segal said.

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Dylan Jackson writes about the business of law and diversity for ALM. He can be reached at [email protected].