“Songbird,” the first feature film approved by the unions to start shooting amid the coronavirus outbreak, begins production in Los Angeles Wednesday, and the film has added Bradley Whitford and Jenna Ortega to the cast of the pandemic-themed thriller.
“Songbird” is produced by former Paramount production chief Adam Goodman and former Disney exec Andrew Sugerman’s Invisible Narratives, with Catchlight Films and Michael Bay also producing.
The film was presented at the Cannes Virtual Market and also stars Demi Moore, Craig Robinson, Paul Walter Hauser and Peter Stormare. Adam Mason (“Into the Dark”) directs the film and wrote the script with Simon Boyes (“Misconduct”).
“Finding a safe and practical way back into production has not been easy, however, our partnership with the guilds and unions has been a true testament to our great Hollywood community. Throughout the process they were awesome partners at finding a way to get their members working again, but always making safety and welfare the first priority. As artists, we need to keep telling stories, and times like these must be documented,” Goodman said in a statement.
On Friday last week, SAG-AFTRA issued a D0 Not Work notice against the film, but the guild has since lifted that restriction.
The film is meant to shoot using creative camera techniques so that actors would not have face-to-face interaction with one another while on camera, with actors and crew separated as filming takes place.
“Songbird” is a thriller set two years in the future at a time when a global pandemic has still not gone away, leading to conspiracies, paranoia and increasingly strict quarantines and lockdowns put in place all surrounding the main characters.
“Songbird” is wholly self-financed by Invisible Narratives. Bay is producing, as is Goodman for his Invisible Narratives production banner along with Eben Davidson. Invisible Narratives is partnered with Jeanette Volturno, Jason Clark, Marcei Brown, Jessica Malanaphy and Rick A. Osako of Catchlight Studios.
Whitford is represented by ICM and Greenlight Management. Ortega is represented by CAA, Gilbertson Entertainment, and Jackoway Tyerman Wertheimer Austen Mandelbaum Morris & Klein. Mason is represented by 3 Arts and ICM Partners. Bay is represented by WME.
ICM Partners and Endeavor Content are handling worldwide sales for the film.
Deadline first reported the news.