Could Studios See Production Slowdowns as Pandemic Insurance Policies Expire?

coronavirus surge in the city. Five of the studios’ programs — including two from the hit “NCIS” series — will be affected by the pause, which pushes back the return of post-holiday production from Jan. 4 to Jan.

Disney Television Studios has joined other major TV studios in pushing the post-holidays start of production for Los Angeles-based shows amid an unprecedented surge in coronavirus infections and Covid-19 deaths in Los Angeles County.

It was supposed to be a year when the playing field became even.

Elaine Low Senior TV WriterA number of CBS Studios productions — including “NCIS,” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “Seal Team,” “Why Women Kill” and “Diary of a Future President” — are extending their holiday hiatus by one week amid the spiking COVID-19 surge in Los Angeles County, Variety has learned.Those productions will resume on Jan. 11.

CBS Studios has pushed several return-to-production dates coming off the current holiday hiatus. The news comes a day after Deadline reported that the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health had urged the film and TV industry to consider pausing production for a few weeks during the ongoing surge in coronavirus cases throughout the county and hours after the stay-at-home order for Southern California was extended to Jan. 16.

That’s "Psycho." An on-duty Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy allegedly had sex with a woman near the Bates Motel section of the Universal Studios lot — and accidentally left his microphone on for a dispatcher to hear a blow-by-blow of the sleazy romp. TMZ obtained a clip of the X-rated encounter between the unnamed deputy and a woman near the section of the lot in Universal City devoted to the Alfred Hitchcock classic.

EXCLUSIVE: Labid Aziz has joined Wayfarer Studios as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer based in the Los Angeles office. The former Starzione executive is charged with the operational and financial health of the newly established company including development and oversight of corporate strategy, governance and growth along with oversight and management of all company investments.

EXCLUSIVE: Jonathan Rhys Meyers and John Malkovich are starring in pandemic thriller The Survivalist for Yale Productions, with the project have recently wrapped in the Tri-state area.

Laying the course for the future, Alan Bergman is succeeding Alan Horn as Walt Disney Studios chairman, while Horn will focus solely on his role as chief creative officer, the company announced Monday. The move isn't a surprise.

EXCLUSIVE: Shout! Studios is teaming with Kirkpatrick & Kinslow Productions (KKP) and Scatena & Rosner Films (SNR) for an exclusive deal to distribute the James Kicklighter-directed The Sound of Identity in North America. The news was made by Jordan Fields, Vice President of Acquisitions at Shout! Studios, Russ Kirkpatrick with (KKP), and Gato Scatena with SNR.

The year-end, massive, 5,000-plus page government funding/Covid-19 relief package, expected to pass Congress in the next couple of days, includes a set of long-sought after copyright and content protection provisions, including a measure that will make it a felony to operate a pirated streaming service.

Disney this morning has named Alan Bergman as Chairman, Disney Studios Content, with Alan Horn continuing to serve as the division’s Chief Creative Officer.

Ryan Reynolds is taking social distancing seriously amid the pandemic.

Naman Ramachandran Andy Taylor, one of the pioneers of the U.K. digital space, has died from cancer.

Garden Studios, a 62,000 sq ft film and TV production site, is set to open in London in early 2021.

Naman Ramachandran Arts Alliance is opening Garden Studios, a 62,000-square-foot facility located in Park Royal, West London, in the first quarter of 2021.Garden Studios will offer four sound stages, workshops, technical facilities and fully equipped offices.

Production has wrapped on Mike Flanagan’s high-profile Netflix horror series Midnight Mass for Netflix. In a series of tweets early Wednesday, Flanagan announced the news, spoke about how the show was able to pull off an uninterrupted shoot of 83 days amid the pandemic and thanked his cast and crew.

In a COVID-free alternate universe, the world would have already seen Chloe Zhao’s blockbuster directorial debut in Marvel Studios’ “Eternals.” The film was originally scheduled for release in November before being delayed several times all the way into November 2021, where it is currently set up. And of all the Phase 4 features, “Eternals” might be the most interesting, as it is a brand-new franchise with a superstar ensemble.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios is teaming with Topic Studios and PKM Productions to develop the series Savannah from Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip, BET’s First Wives Club) and Joey Falco (The CW’s Charmed).