What is a COVID-19 compliance supervisor? What to know about Hollywood’s newest job
A production meeting on the set of “The Card Counter” in Biloxi, Miss., now includes COVID-19 safety measures. The pandemic has spawned a new job on Hollywood sets — the COVID-19 compliance supervisor. The role was created under an agreement last month between entertainment unions and an alliance of producers as part of the terms for Hollywood’s return to production. Already, an industry is emerging around this important position. Some companies are offering training and certification, others are providing consulting services to productions.
The film and television community in the U.S. has slowly been returning to work since June after an almost complete shutdown in March because of the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost as a result. Producers and crew members used to working on crowded and messy sets are now having to adapt to new arrangements and are looking to compliance supervisors to keep them safe and to keep productions going. “The challenge is that we’re living in a new world; the way that people have gone about doing their jobs on the set has changed dramatically” said Thom Davis, business manager of IATSE Local 80, which represents set medics, grips and other workers. Productions […]