Art director and set dresser Sam Stone sits on set checking the monitor for a hose placement on a job. Due to productions being halted due to the coronavirus pandemic, Stone is now relying on savings to support himself financially. (Courtesy photo)

Art director and set dresser Sam Stone, 21, and actress and comedian Carla Emilian Olivas, 26, who have previously relied on freelance production work in Hollywood as their main income, are now unemployed due to the coronavirus pandemic and citywide Safer at Home order issued on March 19.

Sets in the Los Angeles area have become quiet as actors and production crew members are now working from home while some are not working at all. Groups of 10 or more have been banned, thus making production impossible during this time.

As more people are now staying at home, those who have access to streaming services are binging TV but audiences may not be aware that the many people it takes to create this content are now unemployed and relying on savings or unemployment income. Audiences may not be fully aware of what freelancers like Stone and Olivas are experiencing during this time.

Television shows like “Riverdale”, “Supernatural”, and “Grey’s Anatomy” are just some of the shows that have halted production on their TV series. Many freelancers’ incomes have vanished due to the crisis and as the average production assistant will make $200 during an average 12-hour set day, many in the industry are relying on unemployment or savings.

Stone, of Highland Park, is used to working for the art department on sets. The art department’s main role on set is to work on the clothes, create the set, and the props. He is currently living off his savings. His last day on set was March 18, one day before the Safer at Home order was issued.

“From February to March I directed a project. So essentially all of quarantine I’ve been editing that project and coordinating with sound mixers because there are certain industry professions where you can do work from home,” said Stone. “A lot of my post [post-production] process has been pretty much been unchanged by corona.”

Stone is still working on his self-funded project from home, however, he says that collaborating in a physical capacity has been put on hold.

Creativity is something that some artists may feel has fallen off due to the Safer at Home order but Stone doesn’t feel his creativity has changed.

“To me, creativity is something that is like an impulse that you’re following and collaboration is just the actual physical act of materializing that creativity and that impulse. I think that creativity is unchanged there’s just restricted avenues for expressing creativity,” Stone said.

Sets can be crowded as it is more than just the actors and the director that are involved to make the production run. On set, there are production assistants, coordinators, craft services (food on set), sound engineers, grip electric, lighting crews, and so on. What audiences don’t always realize is that it takes a village in order to produce the content they love.

Recently it has come to light that sets are not always the cleanest places to work. When a small set of 30 people work in one location for a 12 hour set day trash can accumulate quickly. Set life post coronavirus will likely change drastically as sanitary conditions will be at the forefront of crew member’s concerns.

“I think most shoots are probably going to be greatly minimized in terms of how many crew can be around,” Stone said. “I’m assuming there’s going to be some medical precautions, like crafty for example, in a post Corona world I’m sure no one is going to want to grab M&Ms out of the same bowl over and over all day for 12 hours.”

Carla Emilian Olivas performs a stand-up comedy set at the famous Laugh Factory in Hollywood. Her advice to fellow actors during this pandemic: “Take it a day at a time. Most importantly take care of your mental health because if you’re not taking care of your mental health and your physical health nothing else really matters.” (Courtesy photo)

Olivas works part-time at Santuari, a fine dining restaurant in North Hollywood, and relies on freelance work heavily. For Olivas, her entire income has come to a sudden halt as her restaurant is currently not doing any to-go or delivery orders leaving her without that income.

“Once Corona hit, everything stopped,” she said. “My restaurant closed down, we are more of a fine dining restaurant so not a lot of people do take out there. And all of the auditions and everything that I kind of was working towards stopped so right now I kind of have just been relying on unemployment.”

She is currently trying to do some freelance work such as photography and at home auditions.

“I am getting a bit of income through that [unemployment] definitely not enough to sustain me in the long run but enough for me to be grateful to be receiving it,” Olivas said.

Acting has always been an unreliable income for Olivas. The job is competitive enough as it is and now due to the pandemic the production industry might become an even harder career for actors to pursue.

“I think this pandemic is definitely changing things a lot. I’ve seen a lot of productions and companies saying that they are going to cut a lot of actors from their upcoming movies to keep the least amount of people on set as possible,” Olivas said.

The actress and comedian believes it is going to be a lot harder for newbies to pursue a career in the entertainment industry including herself.

“All the bars and comedy clubs are closed so stand-up right now is probably not something I will continue to pursue for the next year. It’s kind of hard because whenever something is your passion and you know you want to continue to pursue it you’re going to try no matter what but I know it’s more than likely going to be a little bit more difficult to get the auditions I was getting before,” Olivas said.

She continues to self-produce content on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok in order to keep working on her craft. As a freelancer with a part-time job, Olivas felt there was a lot less time for her to work on her craft.

“I always told myself ‘I wish I could just quit my real job and have weeks to just work on my craft’ and I guess I manifested that but in the weirdest circumstance of not being able to make income. But it’s been nice to have time to read the books I wanted to read and catch up on the shows I wanted to catch up on and take some more headshots and figure out myself as an artist,” Olivas said.

Sabrina Picou is a journalism student at The New School in New York City covering politics, local events, arts and culture.

How freelancers are handling the shutdown of production due to coronavirus