THE TEAM BEHIND COVID SAFETY ON SET
Gravity Diagnostics is a small local business that has become integral to our city and country’s management of the coronavirus. It is a CLIA laboratory based in Covington, Kentucky, licensed in all 50 states, that performs diagnostic testing.
In January 2020, they acquired the proper equipment and practices to test for the novel coronavirus. On their first day of testing, they sampled 20 COVID-19 swabs, and since then their highest volume of testing was 27,000 samples a day.
Gravity Diagnostics has hit their two millionth COVID testing sample, a milestone signifying the accelerated growth going from a team of 50 to 400, from 7,000 sq ft to 70,000, and revenue going from $5 million to $150 million in just over a year. Gravity Diagnostics grew tenfold as the world shutdown.
During lockdown, Film Cincinnati's executive director, Kristen Schlotman, made a pivot and focused the organization's efforts to support the local crew base and prepare for the return of production. Film Cincinnati also grew its pre-existing partnership with TriHealth.
"For over the past 10 years, TriHealth Event Medicine and the Cincinnati Film Commission have partnered to provide state-of-the-art health care to visiting production cast and crew members," says Doug Harris of TriHealth event medicine.
Film Cincinnati worked closely alongside Harris to develop protocols for getting back to work safely.
"During the pandemic, the standard 'umbrella of care' TriHealth routinely provides production companies has had to be expanded to accommodate the 'COVID-19 Return to Work Agreement.' This agreement, which was signed by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Directors Guild of America (DAG), just to name a few, charged production companies with maintaining a safe and healthy work environment during filming," says Harris. "TriHealth Event Medicine in conjunction with the Film Commission implemented the necessary COVID-19 health and safety protocols and procedures needed to achieve this."
TriHealth and Film Cincinnati were able to develop a comprehensive plan to get locals and out-of-towners back to work while managing the disease. Together the two organizations thought through every possible scenario from new travel accommodation protocols to how to properly care for a crew member who contracts the virus.
"Each production was provided a COVID Compliance Officer as well as a COVID Compliance Coordinator. The compliance officer was responsible for establishing and enforcing COVID-19 safety protocols. The COVID coordinator arranged testing and contact tracing," according to Harris. "Our event medicine team was challenged with providing COVID testing and follow-up in a convenient and timely manner."
This partnership went a step further, developing a strategy and supply chain to provide vaccines and testing for crew who work on projects here. Out-of-towners are now able to get registered in the TriHealth network. That’s hundreds of crew, including out-of-towners, presented with the option to get vaccinated, open a My Chart account, and receive treatment under the TriHealth umbrella should reactions or infections arise.
In terms of testing, a relationship was born between the film industry and Gravity Diagnostics. Their testing capabilities have been paramount in helping our organization land projects, and most importantly, keep people feeling safe.
“The way it works is, someone at TriHealth swabs 30 people, we’re couriering those samples back to Gravity to sort, do data entry, test, and report those results back to TriHealth,” says Tony Remington CEO of Gravity Diagnostics. “We even have a team at Gravity trained and prepared to step in and help if extra hands are needed on set.”
"Working with Gravity Diagnostics, thousands of COVID PCR nasal swabs have been performed on-site with results provided in 4-5 hours," says Harris.
A can-do attitude, embodied by all three parties, is indicative of the type of people you'll find in Cincinnati. It is a mindset that proved to be incredibly successful. The first movie to film in Cincinnati in the new COVID world, Bones and All, swabbed over 5,000 tests with not a single positive case.
“Greater Cincinnati is a really special place- a lot of great resources and people who want to pay it forward to each other. Film Cincinnati is a great organization, and Gravity has a top-tier system to navigate to this global problem,” says Remington.
Gravity’s secret weapon is the turnaround time for testing. Gravity Diagnostics results are often same day and guaranteed 48-hours or less; major thanks to the UPS hub located at the Cincinnati airport. The partnership between Gravity and UPS has enabled the lab to provide results as fast, or faster than any other provider in the country. They receive a shipment at 4:30 every morning, which makes it possible for them to get a swab in from Seattle and send results within 24 hours of testing. This swab being one of the many 19,000 samples they test a day.
A carefully maintained streak by testing swabs around the clock.
“What’s great about working with the movies in Cincinnati is that it’s corner service. We can swab someone today and get you a result today,” says Remington. “Getting people back to work, getting the economy back and running is really important, and movies are a big part of that. We are happy to help the film industry in Cincinnati in any way we can.”
Having strong logistics and supply chains for managing COVID has benefitted business for Film Cincinnati. Demand to film in Cincinnati has never been higher. The past 18 months have been Film Cincinnati's busiest span ever in pre-production services.
"Companies and partners who want to adapt their already quality skill sets to the motion picture industry are invaluable to Film Cincinnati. Gravity Diagnostics is one of them," says Film Cincinnati executive director Kristen Schlotman. "They reacted swiftly to the urgency of testing production crews and provided incredible service and professionalism. It has been exciting to see another local company benefit from incoming productions."
The work of Gravity Diagnostics has done wonders to keep our communities safe and provided movies the assurance their projects can be made effectively and safely in Cincinnati. The inverse also positively impacts Gravity’s employees.
“The morale impact is major. It means a lot to our employees to help our community. They feel they’re playing a part in keeping people safe, putting people to work, and help put Cincinnati on the map for the film industry,” says Remington. “It’s been amazing working with Cincinnati’s film industry. The attention to health has been great. Everyone has been cordial, reasonable, and it’s been a real positive experience for our business.”
The relationship put in place between TriHealth, Gravity Diagnostics, and the film industry by Film Cincinnati has proven to be positive on a personal and practical level.
"Through this dedicated partnership between TriHealth Event Medicine, the Cincinnati Film Commission, and Gravity Diagnostics, each visiting production company has been able to safely and efficiently film in the Queen City," says Harris
NEW MOVIE LOOKING FOR CREW
Interested applicants can send resumes to affproduction21@gmail.com.
Union film prepping now for 8 weeks and shooting through the end of the year.
LIVING AND WORKING IN CINCINNATI AS CREW?
We are all aware of the disruption COVID-19 brought upon the world, but it also left room for a lot of good.
Did you take the time to get new certifications, or did you make a career change?
Film Cincinnati is taking a hard look at the crew listing tab on our website. We want to make sure we have the most up-to-date information about the production workforce in the city.
Be on the lookout for an email from our intern Britt and let us know if our listing for you is accurate. We want to know if you still live and work in Cincinnati and if your listing is still fitting for your skillset.
THANK YOU, BRITT!
Britt Ursatchi-Dodd was the Film Cincinnati intern for the summer. She comes to us as a student from UC who works part-time at a movie theater. She brought her love of cinema and communication skills to the Film Cincinnati office. Britt helped Film Cincinnati update our website, organized outreach for our events, posted on social media, write content, and event planning.
Britt will continue to work in the film industry as a cast assistant in an upcoming film that will be in town now through the end of the year.
"Working here has been an invaluable experience. I'm so excited to say where this takes me moving forward. I want to thank Tassy and Kristen for how generous they've been with their time and support," says Ursatchi-Dodd.
Interested in being a Film Cincinnati fall intern? Email tassy@filmcincinnati.com