postPerspective Update

CBS’ All Rise rose to challenge of
remote workflow for season finale

By Daniel Restuccio

When the coronavirus forced just about everything to shut down in mid-March, many broadcast television series had no choice but to make their last-shot episodes their season finales. Others got creative.

While NBC’s The Blacklist opted for a CG/live-action hybrid to end its season, CBS’ courtroom drama, All Rise, chose to address the shutdown head-on with a show that was shot remotely. When CBS/Warner Bros. shut down production on All Rise, EPs Michael M. Robin and Len Goldstein — along with EP/co-showrunners Greg Spottiswood and Dee Harris-Lawrence — began brainstorming the idea of creating an episode that reflected the current pandemic crisis applied to the justice system.

Robin and consultant Gil Garcetti (former LA district attorney) had looked into how the court system was handling the pandemic and decided to pitch an idea to Warner Bros. — a remote episode of All Rise done via a Zoom-like setup. Co-producer Dantonio Alvarez was deep into remote post on already-shot episodes when Robin called him. He was relieved; it meant a lot of the crew — 50 of the usual 90-person team — could keep working.

In a week’s time, Spottiswood and co-executive producer Greg Nelson wrote the 64-page script that focused on the complications around a virtual bench trial and the virus-jammed court system.

The Logistics
Producer Ronnie Chong reached out to Jargon Entertainment’s Lucas Solomon to see how he could help. Jargon, which provides on-set playback and graphics, had been working with network solutions company Straight Up Technologies (SUT) on other projects. Solomon brought SUT into the mix. “We figured out a way to do everything online, and we got it to a point where Mike Robin could be at home directing everybody,” he explains.