Filming resumes on Shortland Street after NZ lockdown

Filming on New Zealand soap Shortland Street has resumed after a five week pause due to the country’s level four lockdown.

But the show has been screening for nearly 30 years came close to catching up to its own broadcast playout.

“There’s usually an eight or nine-week buffer,” says actor Michael Galvin before the show runs out of episodes.

“Now we’re down to three weeks, there’s no wiggle room,” says Galvin. “First of all we have to keep up with what’s on TV and, as the levels go down, we’ve got to catch it back up again.”

Under level three filming guidelines, a one-way system has been introduced to the studio’s “rabbit warren” network of corridors, dressing rooms and sets.

Actors arrive in the front door and head straight to their dressing room, get dressed in character and apply their own makeup. When actors finish scenes, they don’t go back to their dressing rooms.

“You actually exit the studio, leave the building, go around and enter the front entrance again,” says Galvin. The one-way flow continues so actors are kept safe, Shortland Street can keep filming, and fans can get their next fix.

Characters can’t hug, touch, or even hold the same items. Scenes can be shot and edited to make it appear as if characters are closer than they really are.

“I had confidence that I would have a job at the end of (lockdown),” says Galvin. “I’m in a very privileged position to know that was the case.”

Shortland Street screens in Australia on SBS VICELAND.

Source: The SpinOff