Primetime Series Address Pandemic with Remotely Produced Special Episodes Dashboard Dashboard

All Rise and Parks and Recreation creative teams navigate COVID-19 restrictions with virtually produced episodes and one-time topical specials.

Since the industry-wide shutdown of film and television production in March, daytime TV shows, late-night comedy-variety, news programs, and talk shows have aired remotely produced programming. Now, primetime series All Rise and Parks and Recreation are among those following suit with remotely produced specials that integrate our current coronavirus climate into storylines.

From Isolation to Connection

The CBS legal drama All Rise has been one of the first primetime network scripted series to resume production, with a special remotely produced episode set to air this Monday, May 4 at 9 p.m. The show’s creative team, headed by co-EPs Greg Spottiswood and Dee Harris-Lawrence, virtually wrote and produced the topical episode, which addresses the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on criminal justice and the LA County jail system.

"It's a unique chance for our All Rise family to band together—in our different homes, even cities—to tell a story about resilience, justice, and the power of community," said Spottiswood.

The COVID-19 pandemic is not only reflected in the upcoming episode’s narrative content, but it impacted how the episode was shot and produced as well. Inspired by current events and penned via a virtual writers’ room, the episode, entitled “Dancing at Los Angeles” (co-written by Spottiswood & Gregory Nelson), was filmed using Zoom, Webex, Facebook, and other social media and tech platforms. When production was cut short in mid-March, there was an unusually quick turnaround time from when the show’s writer-producers first conceived and pitched the idea, to the writing, filming, and air date. It will be the final original episode to air during the series’ first season run.

The All Rise writers’ room operated remotely via Zoom sessions to work on the episode: “We had a virtual writers’ room with a virtual white board, and we had virtual cards, which we shared, and we put up the collaborative function on Final Draft, and wrote and edited each other’s work together in real time on the same document while we were writing,” said Spottiswood. “Neither of us had ever worked that way before, but because Greg [Nelson] and I have worked together for a long time, not only on this season of television but on other shows we’ve done, we had a shorthand, which made the transition into the ‘virtual’ world a lot smoother than it would be for writers who may be just getting to know each other.”

Art imitates life, as the series' main characters manage their new daily routines at home. In the episode, Judge Benner (Marg Helgenberger) authorizes Judge Lola Carmichael (Simone Missick) to virtually preside over a trial, while other characters attempt to maintain relationships under quarantine. One character deals with the struggle of working as a food delivery driver to make ends meet. The episode’s plotline has real-life parallels, as some US courts are currently using Zoom to hear, try, and rule on cases while courtrooms are closed. The show's consulting producer, former Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti, was on hand to provide insight into how the justice system continues in LA, even during a pandemic.

Compelled by both the unprecedented circumstances and logistical limitations of shooting remotely, the series’ production team had to get creative: Using Webex to create their own private network to dial in to shoot specific scenes, virtual footage was shot in each of the series regulars' homes, adding VFX to create necessary backgrounds. In addition, a lone cinematographer operating solo captured exterior footage that reflects the desolate environment that currently exists on the streets of LA. Surprisingly, the show’s team shot 64 pages in six ten-hour days, a faster pace than most one-hour series productions.

While CBS has yet to determine if the freshman series will be renewed for a second season, the show’s creative team would continue to incorporate some of these themes and production techniques going forward: “From a storytelling standpoint, I think that COVID-19 is going to affect all of our lives certainly into next year, and it’s going to affect how everyone does their jobs, so it’s going to become a part of our storytelling,” said Spottiswood. “We’ll take our lead from how the justice system itself is dealing with it, and how our characters are dealing with it, so some aspects of this special episode are going to carry over [to next season].”

But are audiences ready to watch scripted fare that mirrors the grim daily reality many people look to TV to escape from?

“It was a huge consideration, as we talk about tone all the time,” explained Spottiswood. “All Rise is an aspirational show, a hopeful show, that takes very real dynamics in the justice system and sees them through a specific lens of Lola and our characters, so it was something we talked about conceptually, and something Greg and I talked about every day when we were writing. We tried to focus on what our characters were experiencing in that moment, and to be honest to those characters and their situations.

“Many of our characters are essential workers, so they have to find a way to do their jobs. The justice system does not close down. It slows down to a dangerous pace, and people are in jeopardy or vulnerable as a consequence, and their Constitutional rights are at stake, so we focused in on the story and the relationships between characters and their ability, or inability, to find a way to connect. The movement, for us as writers in this episode, is one from isolation to connection, and that was our guiding principal.”

Continues Spottiswood, “Here are some people who feel as isolated as all of us do during this crisis, and what story can we tell to find them just a simple moment of connection with another human being so they feel less alone. Our hope is the audience will identify with that. Whatever their specific circumstance is, whether living in fortune or misfortune, a story about finding moments of connection and a quest for justice in an unusual circumstance is something that we hope, and believe, will resonate with our audience.”

TV Comedy is a Team Sport

During bleak times, everyone needs a laugh, and NBC’s beloved comedy series Parks and Recreation (created by Greg Daniels & Michael Schur) returned to primetime this week to bring the funny for a good cause.

Spearheaded by Schur, A Parks and Recreation Special aired last night on Thursday, April 30 to benefit Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund, reuniting the show’s original main cast, including Amy Poehler, Nick Offerman, Chris Pratt, Aubrey Plaza, Aziz Ansari, and Retta, plus several guest stars.

Five years after Parks and Rec wrapped up its seven-season run, this new story is as timely as it is topical, as Pawnee, Indiana’s most dedicated civil servant, Leslie Knope (Poehler), remains determined to stay connected to her friends in the age of social distancing. Schur collaborated on the episode’s script with writers Aisha Muharrar, Megan Amram, Joe Mande, Matt Murray, Dave King, and Jen Statsky.

“Like a lot of other people, we were looking for ways to help and felt that bringing these characters back for a night could raise some money,” said Schur. “Our old Parks and Rec team has put together one more 30-minute slice of (quarantined) Pawnee life, and we hope everyone enjoys it—and donates!”

The impetus for this remotely produced, one-time special originally came from the network. “NBC reached out to gauge interest in a one-time reunion, maybe doing a table read of an old episode or something, and I said I was happy to ask the cast,” Schur explains. “I suggested that if we managed to get them all together it ought to be a fundraiser for a good cause, and they leapt at that idea. I sent an email to everyone and got ten instant ‘yes’ votes. Once everyone was in place, we figured we should write something new—it would be much more work, but also it seemed like a waste to get everyone back together and tread over pre-trod ground—so we rallied some of the old writing staff, and the old crew, and everyone pitched in.”

The episode was shot over several days and took three weeks to complete, from inception to final cut. As opposed to taping with cast and crew on a soundstage set, in order to film the episode virtually, producers FedEx’d iPhones—plus pre-set mini light rigs and mics—to cast members. Then the actors taped themselves, while Schur and his team Zoomed in to give notes and direct them remotely, with VFX added in post courtesy of Schur’s The Good Place team.

As expected, Schur explains that he and his team dealt with numerous creative and logistical challenges while writing and producing the special: “There were a million. TV comedy isn't meant to be made with everyone in his/her own room. It's a team sport. Just having to Zoom in over computer while the actors—acting as their own camera crews and hair/makeup/DP/everything—shot their material was nearly impossible. If we didn't have an incredible post team, the assembly, graphics, and VFX would've all fallen apart. It was honestly inspiring to see how hard people worked, and how much problem-solving got done.”

How did it feel to get the band back together after all these years? “That was the fun part. We all loved making that show, so even though it was weird and atypical, getting to make one more half-hour was a joy.”

Even so, is this virtual approach to TV production potentially a sustainable strategy going forward if the COVID-19 pandemic continues to keep the industry on lockdown? Not according to Schur, who admits this novel workaround to TV’s typical production process is “Nothing I’d want to repeat—unless we have no other choice.”