‘It’s Hard But Doable’: Insiders Reveal How HBO and Other Networks Are Producing Shows During the Lockdown

It’s not a great time for Hollywood — the coronavirus outbreak has completely disrupted the entertainment industry. Like the rest of us, celebrities and filmmakers are under strict stay-at-home orders, forcing productions to a halt. And the timing is particularly bad for this multibillion-dollar sector to completely stop functioning: With everyone looking for something to do while stuck at home, streaming services are experiencing massive peaks in subscribers.

Netflix, the industry’s leader, has become even more popular during social distancing, and Apple TV+ has been up over 10% since March 11, according to data released by industry firm Parrot Analytics. But what happens when everything’s been watched and people are looking for something new? How will the industry adjust to a pandemic that threatens businesses dependent on travel and in-person meetings?

A CBS source — speaking on the condition of anonymity because they have not been authorized to discuss the network’s plans — told Mediaite that the network has tapped into a crucial form of entertainment while schools have been canceled due to stay-at-home orders: Cartoons. With children stuck at home and in-person shoots at a standstill, animated shows are seeing a rise in popularity, encouraging media companies to start focusing on educating young audiences.

“Because school has been moved to home, and the coronavirus can be confusing [to children], Nickelodeon has been focusing on education and teaching their viewers how to be healthy,” said the CBS source. “Their main initiatives include helping kids understand why we’re stuck inside, why social distancing matters, why some people can go to work and some can’t, and, well, why you can’t pick your nose.” SpongeBob Squarepants, which airs on CBS owned network Nickelodeon, even features a scene teaching viewers how to wash their hands thoroughly, reminding children to “get under those fingernails,” and “make sure those palms are squeaky clean.”

SpongeBob topped Parrot’s charts from the week of Feb. 28-March 6, only to be knocked down to No. 2 the following week by Netflix original Tiger King. Everyone’s favorite Bikini Bottom resident is now back on top with a 12.22% increase in demand, proving CBS’ focus on animation a lucrative success.

Noggin, a Nickelodeon Jr. service, encourages learning through the network’s most popular characters and is allowing free access to everyone for 60 days to help parents homeschooling during the pandemic. The service has reached out to more than 5 million at risk families to provide them with unlimited free access.

It’s not just children’s cartoons that are thriving at this time, explained the CBS source. Tooning Out the News, an animated political satire executive produced by Stephen Colbert,  has managed to deliver daily bits to viewers. “The team completely innovated how to produce daily animation, and then just as they figured that out, coronavirus hit,” said the employee.

“We’ve had to find a way to break up that edit and, basically, throw as many animators as we can on it at once,” executive producer Tim Luecke told Variety. “Animation is traditionally a very linear process where there are specific handoffs that have to take place; we’re now faced with the challenge of doing everything as simultaneously as possible. So we basically take the edit that comes out of Zoom, and we split it up.”

CBS is also heavily relying on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, which spearheaded their at-home content, and as an interview based show is thriving over video chat.

It was a long journey before the show’s creators reached the high-definition episodes they’re airing now, the CBS source revealed. Before properly figuring out how to assemble all aspects of the show at home, Colbert was shooting from an iPhone — in his bathtub. Producers then figured out a way to get the shots directly into the servers of the Ed Sullivan Theater, allowing editors and graphics to access it with a VPN. Now, with everyone working from home, they have managed to shoot and edit the shows entirely without a control room.

HBO is also putting out their weekly news shows, Real Time with Bill Maher and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, with “almost everyone working at home,” a network executive not authorized to speak publicly told Mediaite.

“So, in essence, the machine continues to function as normal except for actually shooting shows,” the source said. “Which of course is a major piece, but all the prep work before and all the post-production after is going as usual… It’s hard but doable.”

The news shows have been a huge success for HBO, as they essentially allow the network to release fresh content during a time when Hollywood has been put on pause.

“We can’t make new content for traditional scripted drama and comedy series or movies, but we can work on development and getting all scripts in place for when we’re ready to go back to shooting,” the source added.

“We can’t shoot our shows during this time. So developing the scripts and working on getting all ducks in a row for when the time comes is a big priority for us, and we continue to work on post-production across all the shows that were finished shooting, which means that editors, producers, and directors can work remotely from home to assemble cuts.”

Isolation has even tapped lesser-known areas of the industry, as people continue their search for new and refreshing content. Mobile-based entertainment app Yarn, which provides users with interactive stories told through text messages and multimedia content, was essentially built to handle a lockdown. As we crave new storylines while in isolation, Yarn has seen a massive spike in users. As of the second week of March, Yarn saw a 100 percent increase in sessions and a 30 percent increase in engagement, CEO and founder Benoit Vatere told Mediaite.

Yarn’s parent company Mammoth Media is marketed as “the social entertainment studio for Gen Z,” so it comes to no surprise that the app’s most popular feature allows users to generate their own plot lines for Riverdale, a CW teen drama loosely based on The Archie Comics. The series was forced to stop production once a team member came into contact with the coronavirus, making the series one of the first to stop filming. Yarn has given fans a new way to interact with the characters and create their own storylines, despite the lack of new episodes.