COVID-19
PRODUCTION SOLUTIONS update

SAFE SHOOTING!

Safe Shooting • Shooting Now • Remote Production & Video Village • One Stop Production • Our Directors

SAFE SHOOTING!

Following guidelines published by the CDC, the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health, and the AICP Workplace Guidelines and Considerations version 5, we have devised a simple set of safety protocols for prep, shoot, and wrap that include (but are not limited to) theses procedures:

- a) We provide a COVID-19 Safety Coordinator and empower this person to oversee and enforce all safety protocols
- b) We conduct daily health screening
- c) We provide PPE for all cast, crew, and clients
- d) we provide personal sanitizing stations for hand washing and sanitizing
- e) We provide environmental sanitizing for high-touch surfaces on set
- f) We establish on-set zones to create and enforce social distancing

In this new era, we at SPEARS & ARROWS continue to do what we have always done: work with our clients to provide solutions and produce stand-out content that moves, touches, inspires, and motivates our viewers.

Shooting now

Spears & Arrows is shooting now. We have completed three projects to date: a stage shoot in Dallas, a location shoot for McDonald’s in the Los Angeles area, and third project that we are bound by NDA to not reveal. Sorry.

We are working closely with our clients, our production staff, and our crew and vendors to produce successful and SAFE shoots that follow civic and industry guidelines.

We have also produced Behind The Scenes (BTS) films of each shoot to share our safety preparations and protocols and to give our friends and clients a sense of what production looks like in this new era.

Our BTS films can be viewed here: S&A_Covid_BTS_Films

Shooting in the future

Things are open — but COVID-19 will be with us for the foreseeable future. Cities and countries will open and close and open again, as the disease ebbs and flows around the globe. So, how do we move forward? By doing what we have always done. We adapt. We work. We thrive.

During this new era of production, we take common sense precautions and observe health safety protocols to protect the health of our crews, actors, and clients. We also look out for our clients’ financial health by crafting a plan A, a plan B, and a plan C for every project to help mitigate or avoid the costs to our clients for postponements or cancellations due to Covid-19.

Spears & Arrows is an active leader in Covid-19 production solutions. Matt Miller, Chairman of the AICP, has called our recent productions “case studies” in how to work safely in the shadow of Covid-19.

Right now and into the future, we can shoot using the following methods:

• Traditional Live-Action. Our international directors can shoot traditional live-action in open cities around the globe. This means that our directors, crews, and actors can assemble, cast, prep, and work somewhat like we used to (with added safety protocols). Agencies and clients can travel to these shoots or use remote video feeds to attend from the comfort and safety of their homes or offices.

• Multi-Director Projects. Our team of international directors can work together on a single project or multi-spot package to provide creative content from anywhere in the world: USA, Canada, Europe, Iceland, Australia, and South Africa. Our director in Rome, Ago Panini, has already been part of just such a multi-director project for Vodafone.

• Remote Direction. Our directors are ready, willing, and able to direct remotely. However, we firmly believe that directors need to be on the ground with their cast and crew to deliver their best work. With directors in cities around the globe, we can provide this without putting anyone on a plane.

• Shelter-at-Home Productions. In the event that shelter-at-home once again becomes necessary, our directors are prepared to shoot within their quarantine zones. To showcase our shelter-at-home capabilities, we produced a series of short films about living and thriving under quarantine. Using their quarantined households and resources, our directors gave us a unique and diverse glimpse of life during this global event. View our films here: S&A_Quarantine_Films

Remote production & virtual video village

We can offer remote scouting, casting, prep, and even shooting and post. And if any one, or even all, of your agency/client team are unable to attend a shoot in person, we can provide an immersive remote video village experience right to their computer with private streaming Virtual Video Village platform.

You can see a sample of our interface on the next page.

one stop production

SHOOT • DESIGN • ANIMATION • MOTION GRAPHICS • EDITORIAL & FINISHING

We share our Los Angeles office with Cutters editorial and Flavor VFX and have partnered with them on numerous projects that required an ‘all-in’ production-through-post solution. They have a dedicated online server connecting all of their worldwide offices and all of their editors and artists are able to work remotely. Our directors can provide creative direction for any project requiring editorial, design, motion graphics, or animation.

OUR DIRECTORS

USA • Canada • Iceland • UK • Europe • South Africa • Australia

All of our directors work internationally and have shot on every continent but Antarctica. (And we’d like to check that one off our bucket list. So if you write it, we’ll shoot it.)

However, during this unique moment in history with travel uncertainty and countries opening at different times and at different paces, we understand that where a director is in the world can be an important factor.

So here’s the scoop.

Jon Barber

USA • UK

Jon Barber is not a serious man. But, he is serious about his comedy. Since 2006, Jon has been pitching brands and making people laugh in the United States, Canada, Germany, UK, France Switzerland, Italy, Russia, China, and the UAE.

Don BROIDA

Los Angeles

Don is a director and editor with a deep and nuanced sense for pacing, story, character, and emotion. Don is game for anything. He’ll travel to the ends of the earth (i.e., Antarctica – hint, hint) or create a film in his own backyard.

Phil Brown

Toronto

Phil Brown has a camera in his hands almost constantly—a Canon 7D to be precise. He carries it with him on every job to capture additional footage that always adds scope and richness to his spots.

ROBIN GOODE

Cape Town

Robin Goode is an award winning director, photographer, and visual artist who creates films that are beautiful, immersive, and full of unique, fully-realized characters. And, as Cape Town opened many weeks ago, Robin has had the opportunity to work in this new reality of ours. He very successfully shot a spot with the agency and client attending virtually.

DAVID HICKS

Toronto

David’s past life was as an editor, so he possess a very developed sense of storytelling and the ability to shoot for the edit.

Arni Thor Jonsson

Iceland • Los Angeles

Arni is a descendant of Vikings and is living proof that they had a sensitive side. His films are warm, humorous, and touching slices of humanity. He also owns one of the oldest and most established production service companies in Reykjavik, also a long-time partner of ours, Republik Film Productions.

AGO PANINI

Rome • EU

Ago lives within sight of the Basilica and his favorite restaurant. Art and food are highly valued but they are only a couple of the many genres his unique storytelling has mastered. He shoots celebrities, cars, drama, and humor with a hand- waving passion that you must experience.

Nick Piper

Europe • Los Angeles

Nick specializes in authentic performances, visual storytelling, and the occasional mind-bending warp of time and space. Just watch his reel. You’ll see what we mean.

Michael Shapiro

Los Angeles

Michael Shapiro specializes in sumptuous visuals, naturalistic performances and, emotionally honest storytelling.

David Stoddart

Los Angeles • UK

David has made a career out of directing virtually. He began his career as an award winning hidden camera director, and then created his own genre called “discreet camera” utilizing remote direction. So, the current conditions are business as usual for him.

Michael Uppendahl

Los Angeles

Michael Uppendahl is an award-winning television director (American Horror Story, Mad Men, Ray Donovan, The Walking Dead, Fargo). His latest project, Hollywood, just began airing on Netflix.

Wondo

Berlin • EU

Bernd “Wondo” Wondollek is a director/DP who shoots around the globe for iconic automotive brands, including Audi, Porsche, Chevrolet, Bugatti, and Mercedes Benz. He is widely considered to be one of the best Russian Arm DP’s in the world. Give him a car and he’ll shoot the sh*t out of it.