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Hollywood Shutdown
The shutdown that began in March 2020 closed cinemas across much of the world and disrupted production of movies and television. Hollywood Shutdown is a slender but information packed analysis of the motion picture industry’s response to a crisis that recalled any number of Hollywood disaster movies. With COVID-19, life caught up with entertainment.
The backdrop of governmental uncertainty, confusion and mendacity is sketched out by the author, Kate Fortmueller, a University of Georgia media professor. She was ringside as the Georgian GOP took few measures to prevent the pandemic’s spread. The Republicans were wrong to think that hanging an Open for Business sign would prompt an exodus from LA to the Peach State. The only major productions there during 2020 were led by Tyler Perry, who turned his Georgia studio into “Camp Quarantine”—a production bubble that served as a model for how to move forward.
The industry suffered from the same hopes and disappointments as the general public. Plans to reopen were announced and withdrawn. Work never entirely ceased. Post-production could be done at home as editors and directors worked remotely, animation continued and various models for safe shoots were devised under the gaze of COVID compliance officers. The unions led the way to protect their members from infection.
COVID didn’t destroy cinema as a theatergoing experience but it did accelerate shifts already occurring. The pandemic was a boost to streaming services already on the rise and threatening to keep more movie house seats empty.
Hollywood Shutdown: Production, Distribution, and Exhibition in the Time of COVID is published by the University of Texas Press.
