The Bold and the Beautiful (B&B) spoilers has some news to pass on about when B&B could be able to start filming new episodes. Fans are anxious to find out exactly what Wyatt Spencer (Darin Brooks) sees and does when he returns home to his beach house, and they’re wondering whether Ridge Forrester (Thorsten Kaye) and Shauna Fulton (Denise Richards) actually got married during their drunken fest in Vegas.
So, when might B&B be able to begin filming again? The show is filmed in Los Angeles County, where last week the entertainment industry issued a white paper that set forth guidelines for social distancing on film and TV sets. It was the industry’s way of preparing and showing that it’s getting ready to return to work.
There are now reports that Los Angeles County will issue its own guidelines for film and TV production, and that it will open the door for filming to resume as soon as Friday, June 12th. The official announcement from the County is expected sometime today, Thursday, June 11th.
But we should note that just because filming can resume on June 12th doesn’t mean that new episodes of B&B are suddenly going to start showing up on our screens in short order. It will surely take time for B&B to get up and going, and especially for it to make sure that it’s complying with the County’s regulations and its own rules.
Some of the regulations that the industry will need to meet going forward include regular COVID-19 testing, temperature screenings, symptom monitoring, social distancing practices, hand-washing requirements, and so on. All of this will surely take time to implement and will necessarily mean purchasing testing equipment, and this will delay and slow production.
It’s also the case that FilmLA, the non-profit organization that handles film permits, is saying that it will be reactivating and that it will probably be able to start accepting applications for filming permits on Monday, July 15th.
Assuming that filming permits are available to be applied for on Monday, and that B&B applies for a permit, it’s still not known how long it would take after that for filming to actually begin.
When you factor in all the new safety and testing requirements that need to be in place, and especially when you consider how much time it will take to test and clear everyone involved in the process, it seems that we’re looking at a considerable amount of time.
We should point out that Australian and British soaps have been ahead of the game when it comes to restarting production, since they were preparing to return during the shutdown. That seems to be why Coronation Street (a British soap) was able to begin filming yesterday.
So, what’s the bottom line here? Well, it seems that the process of getting B&B back into production could begin soon, but that process itself could take quite a while. Everything will need to be in order before filming can start, and it will obviously take some time after filming begins for new episodes to ultimately land on TV screens.
That will mean some more waiting on the part of B&B fans, as well as more encore episodes for the time being. We’ll certainly keep you up to speed as we hear more about B&B’s production schedule and when fans can expect to see the continuation of the stories they love. Stay tuned to the CBS soap and don’t forget to keep CDL bookmarked for the latest Bold and the Beautiful news and spoilers.