taken on May 25, 2017 actress Gal Gadot poses at the world premiere
of “Wonder Woman” at the Pantages in Hollywood, California. (Photo
by Chris DELMAS / AFP)
Most Hollywood productions have shut down again until at
least mid-January, the movie industry’s acting
union announced, as COVID-19 cases soar to record levels in Los
Angeles.
SAG-AFTRA said the majority of entertainment productions will
“remain on hiatus until the second or third week of January if not
later,” in a statement to members late Tuesday.
The message comes after Los Angeles county health officials on
Christmas Eve urged filmmakers to “consider pausing work for a few
weeks during this catastrophic surge in COVID cases.”
Los Angeles — the nation’s most populous county — has emerged as
the latest US epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, topping 7,000
Covid hospitalizations for the first time Monday.
The sprawling county of 10 million people has suffered nearly
750,000 cases including just under 10,000 deaths.
Southern California’s “stay-at-home” order was extended
indefinitely Tuesday, with multiple hospitals overwhelmed and
forced to turn away ambulances.
SAG-AFTRA has steered months-long efforts to restart Hollywood
since its initial March shutdown, co-signing a deal with top
studios in September to ramp up on-set coronavirus safety measures
for its actors, including testing.
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Even so, Los Angeles entertainment productions were at less than
half their usual activity levels in October, before again declining
as Covid cases began to soar.
Film LA, the body that grants permits for productions around Los
Angeles, said applications to film have recently sunk to “lows we
have not seen since the weeks after restart of production last
summer.”
Beside a few dozen indie movies, very few feature films resumed
production in the Los Angeles area this year, with most filming
activity restricted to commercials and music video shoots.
In contrast, high-profile productions have resumed abroad,
including the latest Tom Cruise blockbuster “Mission Impossible 7”
in the United Kingdom and Italy, and TV series such as
“Supergirl” and “Batwoman” in Canada.
Lack of coronavirus insurance continues to hamper productions
hoping to restart.
SAG-AFTRA said it would ensure “appropriate precautions for the
holiday hiatus period including additional time for testing prior
to the resumption of production.”
A Chief Magistrate’s Court in Jigawa State, on Wednesday,
sentenced to prison a social media commentator following his
Facebook comments which accused Governor Muhammadu Badaru of
fraud.
![image](/2020/10/lawreport.jpg")
The convict, Sabi’u Chamo, a social media promoter of Sabo
Nakudu, an APC senator for Jigawa Central, accused Governor Badaru
for duping APC aspirants by collecting their money with the promise
to give them party tickets.
![image](/2020/10/NWLRland.jpg")
Mr Nakudu is the leader of a factional group of the APC in the
state as opposed to the Mr Badaru’s faction of the party.
Earlier, the governor, while inaugurating the state APC
caretaker committee, said “I will remain vigilant watching those of
you going to meeting with the other factional group, you have got
enough of my patience, I will no longer tolerate that again.
The state government earlier on December 24 sued Mr Chamo over
the Facebook statement. However, the court ordered that the police
should effect his arrest and investigate the suspect before
prosecution, which the police did.
Before his arrest, Mr Chamo, earlier on December 20, retracted
his statement on Facebook and apologised to those who might have
been offended, saying ”that I learnt that my write up have offended
many which is why I am apologizing, thank you, he wrote on his
Facebook page in Hausa Language.
The spokesperson for the state’s Ministry of Justice, Zainab
Baba-Santali, in a statement confirmed that Mr Chamo was sentenced
to six months in a correctional facility for his comments which
injured the governor’s reputation.
The court, however, gave the convict an optional fine of
N20,000.
The Chief Magistrate’s Court 1 sitting in Dutse presided over by
Batula Dauda also said the convicted person would receive 20 lashes
of stroke for the comments to serve as a deterrent to others.
During the trial, after the charge was read to the defendant, he
pleaded guilty to the offence after which the court sentenced him
to six (6) months in a correctional center or Twenty thousand Naira
fine (20,000) and 20 strokes of cane to serve as a deterrent to
others.