No acting jobs for seniors in the ‘new normal’? Here’s what a director has to say

Senior citizens working in the entertainment industry should be given the chance to get back to work in the “new normal,” just like everybody else.

This is according to multi-awarded writer-director Joey Reyes who was part of an online discussion on establishing a new set of safety protocols for productions that want to resume filming amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

During the Q&A, the veteran filmmaker stressed that the decision to hire senior talents should depend on their health status and if they would be willing to take the risk.

“By law, a person can legally work until he is 65 years old, and it doesn’t mean naman that if you’re 60 and above, na suminghot ka lang ng hangin sa labas ng bahay mo, ay may COVID ka na,” Reyes said.

“It’s how healthy you are, and how willing you are to work, and how you take the risk of putting yourself in such a situation of working,” he added.

Reyes also believes that being a senior citizen does not necessarily make you ineligible for work.

“If we do that, that’s a really ageist way of looking at the possibility of employment,” the director said.

The Zoom conference was organized by the Inter-Guild Alliance (IGA), which has presented some “Inter-Guild Protocols" to the COVID-19 Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF).

The group—which is made up of representatives from different sectors of the local film, television, and advertising industries—clarified that they are not necessarily recommending allied productions to resume filming in light of the current COVID-19 situation.

“Right now, we actually feel that it’s not safe to shoot, but if may mga productions who want to shoot and who want to take the risk, then these are the guidelines that we recommend,” IGA representative Patti Lapus of the Alliance of Producers, Line Producers and Production Managers explained.

“Right now, is it safe? Not yet, but here are the protocols. You wanna get back to work? Here are the guidelines,” Reyes chimed in. – RC, GMA News