Monday, November 09, 2020
Jurassic World: Dominion Took 40,000 Covid-19 Tests to Finish
io9.gizmodo.com: In some places, it can still be tricky to get a test for covid-19 done in a timely manner, forcing you to wait days for results. But not so on the set of Jurassic World: Dominion, which just wrapped a mammoth 18-month production that, among other things, used up 40,000 covid-19 tests.
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It is really frustrating to read articles like this that highlight the economic disparities that this pandemic has continued to expose and contribute to. When people keep discussing how challenging it can be to get a COVID test, and the many hoops that you have to jump through to get one, it just goes to show that with money there is no challenge to get a test. While I am obviously happy for the technicians that were able to be paid again by working on this movie, it is frustrating that many schools are not providing regular testing (whether by choice or inability to pay), but movie production can still happen. It is hard to not feel that priorities continue to be wrong during the pandemic. Schools are closing, but you can still eat at a restaurant, and many more items that continuously demonstrate how we prioritize the economy over people.
All I can really say is wow. It is crazy what the team behind Jurassic World had to go through in order to get their production done. 6-8 million dollars just in COVID-19 precautions alone. This is not sustainable at all and the industry has to come together to figure out a better, more cost effective way to continue filming. The Jurassic World franchise is lucky to be part of such a large, well established studio as, without them, there is no way they would have been able to get this done. Their COVID-19 prevention budget is more than many producers have for an entire movie. Together, all the major studios and independent producers have to come together, brain storm ways to work together, including sharing resources to better the industry as a whole. With something like this happening, it will take much longer for the industry to recover as a whole without a doubt.
I love seeing the arts get back to work but I am always wary when I read about an arts organization using something like 40,000 COVID tests. Though testing has expanded some places I agree with Bridget that it is frustrating to read about testing inequity. Right now arts organizations need to remember that they also have be social responsibly. I understand it is frustrating that people can’t do their jobs but until it is safe and vaccines exist. It is wild how much money is spent on testing and it goes to show that testing and COVID safety could close organizations that can’t afford it. I think it is a little scary thinking that a lot of filming is happening and just testing people. I wonder what other measures were put in place as someone can test negative one day and then go to work and catch COVID-19 on the way to work and test positive two days later. I wonder if any villages like the Great British Bake-Off were created to keep COVID bubbles. I am surprised that this article didn’t talk about shut-downs that had to happen (I don’t know this happened for Jurassic Park but I would be shocked if it didn’t.)
Cool cool cool cool. So is it time to eat the rich? I think we eat the rich now? How does a move studio spend 6-8 million dollars on COVID testing when that time of testing is not available to most Americans. I have to laugh at Colin Trevorrow’s idea that the close proximity and time spent together is going to make the movie better. It’s a movie about dinosaurs. No one is going to seeing it for the character study on Chris Pratt’s character who is so forgettable no one knows his name. Also this quote, “there was a lot of laughter at a time when it has been hard to find things to laugh about” is just the most tone-deaf insulting thing to read. Like oh I’m so glad you found time to laugh Colin. Hundreds of thousands of people are dead and millions are unemployed. No one wants to know about how you constructed these characters and wasted 40,000 COVID tests to do so.
I definitely am happy that at least one major production was able to reach the end of its filming during this time despite the many challenges, but I'm also surprisingly upset by this news. The studio never should have even tried to come back until conditions could be made to be 100% safe. If Universal had managed to make it to the end of filming with 0 positive cases, I wouldn't be able to complain, but they didn't. Even if some of their 100 positive tests were false, even 75 cases are 75 cases that wouldn't have come to be if they just did the responsible thing and waited. They are literally playing with people's lives just for the sake of finishing a movie about dinosaurs. Sure, the workers are getting compensated, but especially with the closures that have happened since the pandemic began, I can't imagine many workers were really in the financial position to turn down a paying job. Furthermore, the fact that Universal paid for $6-8 million in COVID prevention things means that those very same essential tests and supplies were taken away from the public during a time that we need to reserve those things for those most at risk, which definitely makes me feel iffy about Universal and their morals.
There seems like no good way to go about filming a movie during a pandemic. Maybe if we had leadership that provided any level of relief for artists, we could just put a pause on making movies all together, however painful that would be. I agree with the previous comments that it's sad to see yet another example of those with money taking important resources for something as trivial as making a movie. This is reminiscent of the outcry at the beginning of the pandemic when celebrities who had no reason to believe they had COVID were still getting tested simply because they could, even when tests were in such short supply. It’s insane to me how America is the only country that seems to have forgotten a pandemic is still going on. Of course, much of the population is still painfully aware as their classes have been cancelled, they have lost their job, or lost a loved one. But still we see so many refuse to wear a mask or social distance. We still see people, or companies like Universal, insist on making the 17th Jurassic World movie. I understand they may not have had a choice or any other way to pay their artists. It’s just frustrating to see such a huge effort put into this, but not any effort from the US gov in providing relief.
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