Calgary-shot Wynonna Earp among first TV series to resume production
CALGARY - In different circumstances, it might have been an eerie scene.
But when Emily Andras first walked onto the rural set of Wynonna Earp west of Calgary just over a week ago, every cast and crew member was sporting a mask in the hot July sun. It was a strangely moving sight for the creator of the Alberta-shot series, who had last seen her co-workers back in March when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down TV and film production in Alberta and throughout the world.
“It was a beautiful summer day on the homestead, very different from when we left it,” says Andras. “Just to see literally every single member of my cast and crew wearing a mask, taking the time and the heat and never complaining, that made it extra special. I see the care that the cast and crew have for one another.”
The fourth season of Wynonna Earp began airing Sunday, July 26. On March 13, when the world shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, cast and crew were about to take a week-long hiatus after finishing the first six episodes of the fourth season. Most of the final six episodes had also been written but have since undergone rewrites to accommodate both the new summer setting and restrictions caused by new health protocols.
Still, Wynonna Earp is among the first wave of TV series to restart production in North America and certainly the first out of the gate in Alberta since the pandemic took hold.
“We are extremely fortunate in that we are back in production, but we also serve as a canary in a coal mine for everyone else,” Andras says. “In terms of challenges, they are both off-screen and onscreen challenges. Off-screen, the reality is we have on any given day between 100 and 300 crew members, sometimes working in enclosed spaces. It’s an intimate environment. It’s very much like a construction site with people handling equipment and eating together and breathing together and collaborating. On-screen, of course, we are an R-rated, 10 p.m. cable show with a supernatural element. So we have things like intimacy and sex scenes and kissing and we also have stunts.”
While the provincial government has offered general protocols for film and TV production to resume, the producers behind Wynonna Earp have gone “above and beyond” to keep people safe while filming the final six episodes of Season 4, Andras says.
That includes a “massive amount of testing,” particularly for the cast, Andras says. Performers are tested before any intimate scene. The cast members are also quarantined together in a social bubble in Calgary, she says.
“Once they have been tested and cleared, they are each other’s social lives,” Andras says. “That’s how it has to be and it has to be very limited. But they love each other and are so concerned with keeping the crew safe that they will follow all that.”
Masks are mandatory for everyone on set and must be worn at all times. Cast members can only take them off right before cameras start rolling. The number of people on set has been greatly reduced, particularly when it comes to extras. Hand sanitation stations are everywhere and crew members have been separated into different zones with different washrooms and eating arrangements. There are no more buffets or massive lunchrooms, and craft services that provide drinks and snacks are no longer self-serve. Every aspect of the production is controlled by new protocols, Andras says.
Last week, a stunt sequence was filmed using a safety mat.
It was a simple scene that became very complicated.
“We realized that in between every shot we had to take the mat they had fallen on and sterilize it,” Andras says. “There was only one person using that mat but we just can’t take that chance. These things increase the time it takes to get the show done. Things need to be simplified and thought through.”
While the producers, cast and crew on Wynonna Earp are taking safety and health protocols seriously, the major reason the series was able to resume production while others in Canada have not largely boils down to timing and insurance policies. Because Season 4 began filming before the COVID-19 pandemic, an insurance policy was already in place that will cover production as it completes the next six episodes. But many Canadian series, including Alberta-shot dramas such as Tribal and Heartland, had not begun production before the lockdown.
Insurance companies that serve the film and TV industry are now refusing coverage for COVID-19. While major Hollywood studios and streaming services such as Netflix may have the resources to self-insure, that’s not realistic for most Canadian production companies.
Calgary producer Tom Cox said the lack of insurance has delayed production of the 14th Season of CBC’s Heartland, which his Seven24 Films produces along with Wynonna Earp. Preparation for the season was set to begin in March but was delayed due to the pandemic. Heartland is just one of many Canadian shows in this predicament, Cox says. Producer Scott Lepp says Season 2 of the Calgary-based police procedural Tribal was set to begin prepping in early July for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network but is also on hold until the lack of insurance can be addressed.