The UK production sector now has a comprehensive set of coronavirus safety protocols, with the British Film Commission (BFC) today publishing its guidelines following wide industry consultation.

The UK government has endorsed the publication of the guidelines.

As the government has already given the green light for production to resume in the UK once the guidelines were confirmed, theoretically the sector can get back up and running right away.

As BFI chief exec Ben Roberts noted, “There is still work to done to address the cost of recovery and business insurance as a result of COVID-19, but government support has been crucial in getting us to this point.”.

The news paves the way for big budget productions to resume on Brit shores including Warner Bros’ The Batman, Netflix’s The Witcher, Universal’s Jurassic World: Dominion and Disney’s The Little Mermaid.

The release of today’s guidelines follows last week’s publication of a slimmer, 15-page document from a combo of British broadcasters and producers, which you can find here.

Today’s production guidelines emerge from the BFI Screen Sector COVID-19 Task Force, which was established to steer recovery initiatives after the pandemic hit the industry, forcing all production to shut down after the nation went into lockdown.

“The BFC’s guidelines enable us to take tentative steps to return to set, providing a promising breakthrough after this painfully fallow production period. They are designed to be translatable to projects of all budget levels and needs, which is a welcome concept for the independent sector particularly,” added Nicky Earnshaw, Head of Production, See-Saw Films

“These guidelines cannot stand alone, so it is crucial that they are seen as just part of the measures needed to help get the production sector back to work and sit alongside the other proposals being presented to government by the various bodies and individuals comprising the Screen Sector Task Force.”