Who's back at messy work since the lockdown restrictions started easing? How did you feel about filming or sessions? Is it more difficult now, or like riding a bike?
We filmed mud during the open period in the summer of 2020, and then nothing until the lockdowns started easing this spring, a full ten month gap. Took the opportunity through the winter to upgrde to a 4k video camera, and also totally rebuilt the main editing machine here in Mission Control. Since Mud Season opened on the last weekend in May, we've shot 16 outdoor mud scenes, all mastered in 4k, with more planned, and to be honest everyone's just fallen straight back into it as though we never stopped.
Of course editing and releasing never did stop, thanks to our enormous stockpile we just kept right on releasing on schedule all the way through. I used to wonder if running with such a large stockpile (we had four solid years worth of Saturation Hall material in the can) was wise, really glad we did now though.
I think you're gonna get very different responses to this, based on where the producer is located and their take on COVID, safety procedures, etc.
I mostly released new clips from my stockpile, which was actually nice as I was sitting on about 20 unreleased shoots when the lockdowns started. (That number has now been halved.) But I did start shooting a bit in 2020 and then a more-or-less regular schedule by March 2021.
Not sure if this is a young person thing or a Southern thing, but I had quite a few of my "regular" models reaching out to me immediately after COVID started, wanting to shoot. In hindsight, maybe I should've been less cautious, as several of them are no longer interested in shooting at ALL.... having discovered the joys & profits of real estate, or (ahem) OnlyFans. But now more than ever, all models are transitory and 6 months to a year feels like the best you can hope for, pandemic or not.
It was interesting to see several producers keep right on shooting straight through COVID. I assume both they and the models were willing to take the risk, and not like there were any enforceable laws preventing it. And I certainly didn't notice any sort of backlash here on the forum.