Salons skirting closure rules raise concern
Film professionals say pandemic-era productions have to navigate maze of restrictions to keep cast, crew safe
While two St. Catharines hair salons have reopened in defiance of COVID-19 restrictions claiming they are now film studios, those businesses bare little resemblance to professional TV and film industry productions.
Film industry professionals contacted by the St. Catharines Standard described how they have to navigate the COVID-19 terrain to keep their productions going while keeping everyone involved safe and adhering to provincial regulations.
They pointed to strictly enforced social distancing on sets, limitations on who touches equipment, the shifting of post-production work to home offices, full PPE use and reduced workforces, insurance for workers who might contract the virus and COVID-19 testing
protocols for actors.
While the salons claiming to be film studios — Chrome Artistic Barbering and Evolution Salon & Spa — say they are following Ontario government guidelines, they are not functioning the way professional film productions do.
“When I heard that salons were opening under a loophole that they can now classify themselves as a film set by setting up a camera, at first I thought it was clever, but after thinking about it, I was incredibly annoyed, and frustrated that these people think this whole thing is some kind of joke,” said Niagara filmmaker Jason Douglas Lupish.
Last week Niagara Region’s bylaw department, joined by St. Catharines’ bylaw department and the Ontario Ministry of Labour, launched an ongoing investigation into the salons.
Salons are among the businesses closed under provincial regulations to limit the spread of COVID-19.
Both St. Catharines salons have set up cameras and lights
and claim to be filming for a podcast, TV show or documentary. Their clients are now coming in for an “audition” which they pay for. The audition constitutes being filmed while getting a haircut. The owner of Chrome, Alicia Hirter — who pushes antimask, pandemic conspiracy theories online — says masks are optional because they don’t need to worn during a “performance.”
According to Alistair Hepburn, president of Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, a production that requires anyone to pay for an audition is a red flag.
“Legitimate productions never charge for auditions. The Casting Directors Society of Canada have a code of conduct that would prohibit this action,” said Hepburn in an email.
“The important thing to look at here is that at the beginning of the pandemic the film industry came together — unions and employers, suppliers, studio owners, cast and crew, guided by the advice and protocols developed in collaboration with leading infectious disease and public health experts, epidemiologists, and a range of medical and occupational health and safety professionals,” Hepburn said. “That’s what we need to ensure the public understand. We continue to film only because we can do so safely and responsibly.”
Legitimate film companies, such as St. Catharines-based Fourgrounds Media which made the film “The Hotel Dieu,” have had their ability to make films heavily constrained by the pandemic.
Company president Andrian Thiessen said the company lost two of its staple clients because of the pandemic — the Niagara Icedogs and the Shaw Festival.
Much of what work is continuing is happening in home offices, he said, since Fourgrounds shuttered its offices in March. A van was outfitted as a portable studio. Staff drive to sets or locations separately, wear full personal protective equipment while working and stay physically distanced. Only specific staff are allowed to handle specific equipment.
For Lupish, the maker of the movie “Fight,” the pandemic has meant a stop to his film production projects. “I’m not working right now either, because I cannot safely put together an actual production, in a safe environment,” he said.