There's Going to Be So Much Jockeying

A production logjam awaits now-empty soundstages as projects that couldn't wrap filming before the mid-March shutdown maybe prioritized Within days in mid-March, soundstages in the U.S. went from bustling hubs to abandoned ghost towns as the novel coronavirus forced studios to shut down filming. "There is nothing like being the only person on a movie lot," says Mark Nicholas, one of few people able to keep working at Manhattan Beach Studios in California in order to assist in the live-streaming of local mayor and sheriff news addresses. Another New Mexican production site, Santa Fe Studios, is fielding requests from producers anticipating a space crunch.