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Hollywood’s Covid protocols will expire May 12, and the vaccination expires – which gave producers the right to require Covid vaccines as a condition of employment – will expire for all productions except those done before May 12, which can continue to apply for the remainder of the production or season. .
The return-to-work agreement was due to expire on Saturday.
First released in September 2020 under an agreement between the Motion Picture and Television Producers Alliance and the Hollywood Guilds — SAG-AFTRA, DGA, IATSE, Teamsters and others — the protocols allowed productions to pick up after the industry shut down early in the pandemic. The protocols were originally set to expire on April 30, 2021, but have been extended nearly a dozen times, including in June 2021, when producers were given “the option to implement mandatory vaccination policies for cast and crew in Region A on a production-based basis.” production.” Area A, where the unmasked actors work, is the safest working area on the sets.
The last extension of the protocols was in January.
A statement released today by AMPTP says:
The Return-to-Work Agreement, which is set to expire April 1, 2023, will now continue to be in effect until May 11, 2023. As of May 12, 2023, the Return-to-Work Agreement will be terminated.
The date coincides with the end of the US Department of Health and Human Services declaring a COVID-19 public health emergency on May 11.
“All employees must have a total of five (5) days of temporary paid COVID-19 sick leave per Product, which may be used during the period beginning April 2, 2023 and ending December 31, 2023, to cover one or more eligible COVID-19 events
“Any production that implemented a mandatory vaccination policy for employees in Region A prior to May 12, 2023 may continue to apply this mandatory vaccination policy for the remainder of the production (or season, in the case of a series).
Unions signed to the Agreement to End the Protocols include the DGA, SAG-AFTRA, IATSE, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Teamsters Local 399, IBEW Local 40, and LiUNA! Local 724, OPCMIA Local 755, and UA Local 78.