How does northern film production stay safe during a pandemic?

While the winter months tend to be a slower time of the month for TV and film production, work on keeping crews safe during the pandemic is not losing momentum.

Rob Riselli, film programs and reporting supervisor for Cultural Industries Ontario North, says they are adhering to government policies, and public health mandates. CION is a non-profit cultural organization serving the needs of everyone working in music, film and television across northern Ontario.

"I guess the simplest way to describe it is [production companies] have to come up with a COVID-19 plan," he told Morning North CBC host Markus Schwabe.

"So that involves the procurement of PPE for the crew, a plan for testing with the crew and keeping the cities informed of what they're doing. It's a very long process.

Before any production gets underway, they need to ensure pandemic safety guidelines are in place to keep the crew and the community they're working in protected.

Riselli says there is one production currently shooting in Greater Sudbury, and there's another production on the way, which is expected to start sometime in March.

"And other than that, in northern Ontario, I'm not aware of anything currently shooting right now," he said.

"Nobody's come out and said we can't shoot because of COVID-19. So it's looking pretty good in that regard. We anticipate a fairly busy 2021."

Tap the player to listen to the whole interview.