Zooming in: How the COVID-19 pandemic has changed Hollywood's audition process
LOS ANGELES - While auditioning for a family Christmas commercial in Los Angeles, actors Elizabeth Bemis and Gabriel Villanueva made a bold choice.
After hitting their marks and delivering their lines as a married couple, the pair leaned in for a quick peck on the lips. The sweet, unscripted moment lasted less than a second, but elicited quite a reaction.
"What was that?!" exclaimed the casting director from behind his mask and face shield.
"Can't do that unless you're quarantining together!" quipped the camera operator from several feet away.
Actually, Bemis and Villanueva couldn't have auditioned at all - let alone kissed - unless they were quarantining together. It wasn't the first time the Central LA residents, who have been dating for more than six years, had auditioned as a couple amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced the entertainment industry to adapt to stricter health and safety protocols.
Often that involves auditioning remotely via Zoom or self-tapes, which actors film from their homes and submit online. In this case, it meant auditioning in person - with a quarantine buddy - for characters required to come within (gasp!) 6 feet of each other.
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