New normal: 'The River' could start shooting next week and here's how things will be different

As level four of the lockdown is set to take full effect on Friday, Mzansi's favourite telenovela, The River, is gearing up to start shooting again from next week.

The telenovela's creative producer Percy Vilakazi told TshisaLIVE they had limited a lot of scenes to skeleton actors, with no extras on set.

“Although we don't know the exact date, we are gearing up to go back to shooting. It would most likely be next week. I am trying to check the script to see what is feasible as a lot of scenes will have skeleton actors and no  extras. This entire day I will look at what can be best possible for the show while keeping the safety of the actors and crew in mind.

“We will be limiting the number of actors who will appear on the screen. We are looking at ways to curb the spread of the virus  because safety comes first.”

Percy said even before the lockdown went into effect in March, they had put in place safety precautions to minimise the chances of contracting the virus on set. These will continue when shooting resumes.

“A lot of equipment will be disinfected. We are looking at make-up, stylists and catering interaction with actors. We are going to try to do things differently.”

Percy told TshisaLIVE they had new characters in the show, but due to stores being closed, they were unable to buy wardrobe items for their roles.

“We don't know if we should tell them to bring their own clothes or whether we should use the old clothes we have. We will see how to work around it.”

Percy said if these measures do not work to prevent the spread of the virus, they will be forced to shut down production.

“If one person gets infected then we will, unfortunately, have to shut down.”