Porn industry could help Hollywood protect film crews from coronavirus

Hollywood could learn a thing or two from the porn industry when it comes to protecting its film crews from a major health scare.

As Tinseltown gears up to restart production in the wake of the coronavirus, it could turn to its freaky cousin, the adult entertainment industry, for battle-tested solutions developed during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, according to a new report.

“When we first starting talking about COVID, we felt very well prepared because we have a whole history of testing within the industry as well as contact tracing and production shutdowns,” Mike Stabile, rep for the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the US adult entertainment industry, told Reuters.

“This is obviously a different type of virus, this is a different type of threat, but we understood in general how it would work and what we’d need to do in order to protect ourselves,” he added.

The protocols include rigorous testing and a database that lists who is clean and available for work, which were established in the late 1990s after a porn actor faked an HIV test and infected several others in the industry.

Porn star Sharon Mitchell, who is now a physician, created the system — known as PASS for Performer Availability Scheduling Services — that requires sex actors to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases every 14 days. The results are then entered into a database that tells producers and directors who is “clean” and available for work.

“All it tells us is a binary. Are you clear to work or are you not clear to work?” Stabile said.

Stabile said the coronavirus is a more complicated problem in part because it’s more easily transmitted through microscopic droplets released when someone coughs or sneezes instead of through blood contact. Still, the sex flick industry is open to working with mainstream Hollywood studios to share its expertise.

“The challenges for sports, for Hollywood and the porn industry are all different but in reality, we each have things we can learn from each other,” Stabile noted.

Hollywood studios, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, have been brainstorming for weeks on how to restart the production of TV and movies, while ensuring a coronavirus-free set for everyone from actors to makeup artists and camera crews.

On a positive note, international production may be able to restart sooner than expected. Select European countries like Iceland, Denmark and Czech Republic, where many Hollywood shows are filmed, are expected to resume before the United States, according to the film commissions in those countries. But it remains unclear if Hollywood studios will want to travel to shoot their projects overseas before the outbreak has been contained globally.