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Description

Dr. Bob learns how COVID-19 has affected the movie and live theater industries from Marc, Jonah, and Ben Platt. They discuss what it was like when everything had to shut down, how the arts have adapted, and what they think the return to normalcy will look like. Plus, Marc and Ben detail what it was like shooting the Dear Evan Hansen movie with the new COVID-19 protocols in place.

 

Follow Dr. Bob on Twitter @Bob_Wachter and check out In the Bubble’s new Twitter account @inthebubblepod.

 

Ben Platt is on Twitter and Instagram @BenSPLATT. Jonah Platt is on Twitter and Instagram @JonahPlatt.

 

Keep up with Andy in D.C. on Twitter @ASlavitt and Instagram @andyslavitt.

 

In the Bubble is supported in part by listeners like you. Become a member, get exclusive bonus content, ask Andy questions, and get discounted merch at https://lemonadamedia.com/inthebubble/

 

Support the show by checking out our sponsors!

 

• Click this link for a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this show and all Lemonada shows: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NEJFhcReE4ejw2Kw7ba8DVJ1xQLogPwA/view

 

Check out these resources from today’s episode: 

 

• Watch The Platt Brothers’ entire performance from the Graduate Together virtual ceremony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYWeyZRMwGY
• Learn more about the upcoming Dear Evan Hansen movie: https://deadline.com/2021/01/dear-evan-hansen-movie-release-date-ben-platt-amy-adams-julianne-moore-1234683675/
• Check out Ben’s music on his website: https://www.benplattmusic.com/
• Keep up with all of Jonah’s work at his website: https://jonahplatt.com/
• Watch Ben and the cast of Dear Evan Hansen sing “You Will be Found” on The Late Late Show with James Corden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_10msPMEick 
• Learn more about Dr. Bob Wachter and the UCSF Department of Medicine here: https://medicine.ucsf.edu/

 

To follow along with a transcript and/or take notes for friends and family, go to www.lemonadamedia.com/show/in-the-bubble shortly after the air date.

 

Stay up to date with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. For additional resources, information, and a transcript of the episode, visit lemonadamedia.com.

Transcript

SPEAKERS

Marc Platt, Jonah Platt, Dr. Bob Wachter, Ben Platt

Dr. Bob Wachter  01:20

Welcome to IN THE BUBBLE from the frontlines. I’m Dr. Bob Wachter. You just heard the beautiful sounds of the three Platt brothers, Ben, Jonah and Henry singing for a virtual high school graduation ceremony. One of the many examples of the arts improvising during COVID. We’ve all had to give up so much so much human contact, companionship, love. The arts have turned out to be a refuge for many of us, whether it’s listening to music, during walks or binge watching on YouTube videos of great performances. But the live arts from theater to concerts have taken a brutal pounding as have the people who make this art, both those on the stage and those who are behind it.

Dr. Bob Wachter  02:00

Movies, of course, have continued but the business of movies has been turned upside down with the inaccessibility of theaters, there was already a trend towards streaming and that trend has been turbocharged by COVID. Today, we’re going to talk about the arts. And we’re thrilled to be doing that with what might be called America’s first family of theater and movies, the Platts. But before I get to it and introduce them, let me just give you a quick update on where things stand in COVID. It’s pretty good. Case rates continue to come down in most parts of the country, here in California, they are in freefall. And with them, hospitalizations are coming down death rates are coming down as well. Although we’re still averaging about 1000 deaths a day, which is pretty shocking.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Vaccinations are moving relatively quickly, we had a brief stall due to the weather last week, but they seem to be picking back up again. And in fact, the day I’m taping this, we had about 2 million vaccines given out in the country, which is really pretty astounding. And as everybody’s heard by now, we now have had the approval of a third vaccine, the J&J vaccine, and it’s another momentous event that moves us even closer to the day when vaccines will be available for all I’m guessing that will occur in May. And we’re seeing some real-world data from nursing homes in the United States, to data from the UK to data from Israel, proving that these vaccines didn’t just work astoundingly well in the controlled environment of clinical trials, but also in real life.

Dr. Bob Wachter

The variants continue to be a looming threat, but it feels like feels like we’re moving at a pace, that while it might not eliminate the threat of a fourth wave, it will blunt one considerably if we have one in May, in fact, allow us to bypass a fourth wave entirely. So all of this has given us real cause to begin thinking about a time in mid late 21, or at worst, early 22. Where we might be comfortable going to a Broadway show or going to a concert or even going to a movie theater. Hard to imagine and it’s gonna feel weird when we do that. But I think it’s going to happen. And that, of course brings us back to the arts to the people that will make the movies will make the shows will make the theater and how important they are.

Dr. Bob Wachter  04:22

So we wanted to speak to people in the middle of that business to tell us a little bit about their lives and to tell us about how this past year has been for them. So we’ve chosen to talk to three members of the extraordinary Platt family. Marc Platt, who’s a dear old friend of mine, as you’ll hear, is a film theater and television producer. His movies include La La Land, Bridge of Spies, Legally Blonde, and Philadelphia. He’s also produced several Broadway hits, including Wicked, and he’s co-producing the movie Dear Evan Hansen, which will come out later in the fall. Ben Platt, one of my Mac’s and his wife Julie son’s is an actor, singer and songwriter.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

He’s best known for appearing in the Broadway productions of the Book of Mormon and Dear Evan Hansen. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for Dear Evan Hansen. He also starred in the Pitch Perfect films and the Netflix comedy drama series, The Politician, and he will star in the Dear Evan Hansen movie coming out in September, which is co-produced by his dad. And another brother, Jonah Platt is an actor, singer and writer. He’s appeared in Wicked on Broadway, as well as in Jesus Christ Superstar Alive and in The Office. So just amazingly talented. And I have to say, knowing them, absolutely wonderful family. And we’re lucky to have them with us today to talk about COVID in the arts. So let’s go ahead and call up the Platt’s

Dr. Bob Wachter 

So let’s go ahead and get started. And thank you, Ben, Jonah, and Marc for being with us. It’s really a thrill to have you.

Marc Platt  06:01

We’re so happy to be here.

Jonah Platt 

Happy to be here with you.

Ben Platt 

Thanks for having us.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Thank you. Let’s start with the important stuff, Marc, maybe tell the audience how we know each other, and then we’ll get into the meat of the matter.

Marc Platt

So I met Bob back in 1975, at the University of Pennsylvania, we went to college together, we share many of the same friends and most significantly, I met my wife there, Julie Platt, who Bob is known as long as I have, actually because we met all at the same time. And Bob was in fact in our wedding party when we got married in Wichita, Kansas. So we have a long and close and not in distance, but just in terms of time in life, sharing friendship together.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

And you didn’t mention the most important part. I played the piano during the production of You’re Good Man, Charlie Brown that you and Julie starred in, that went around elementary schools in Philadelphia was a mass hit, and I believe got you into showbusiness.

Marc Platt 

That’s probably true. I think it’s actually was your piano playing. That inspired me.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Yeah. It’s shocking that I didn’t go anywhere with that.

Marc Platt 

Yes, yes. You used to play a mean Billy Joel.

Dr. Bob Wachter

Thank you. I still do.

Marc Platt

I’m sure you do.

Dr. Bob Wachter

So let’s hear about what the year has been like for the three of you. And Ben and Jonah, I understand you both had COVID. So maybe start with Ben and tell us about the experience of that, and just how the years gone?

Ben Platt 

Sure. So I had COVID like way, way in the beginning of this whole process, like pretty much the first weekend that everything like shifted into high gear. I was living in New York. And I was planning to come home as soon as everything got really crazy. And like, just before I was going to come home, I started to feel ill and I didn’t necessarily know what it was. So I came home. And as soon as I got home, it became like about 103 fever. And I had, so I isolated obviously from my family when I got home. And that lasted for about two or three days of just kind of like a flu is what it felt like pretty much. No other kind of strange symptoms in those first few days. And so I assumed it had to be this thing that everyone was talking about.

Ben Platt  08:13

But I don’t think we quite understood the extent to which people in New York really had just all gotten it right then and I started to hear about friends of mine who had all been around me and in the weeks prior all getting variations of it. So yeah, had luckily for me knock on wood, it was just like three days of kind of a yucky flu, and then like a lingering cough, and some chest stuff. And then I lost my taste and smell which was sort of the strangest part, and that lasted for about 7 or 10 days. That was kind of the last vestige once I regained those senses. I felt pretty much normal. And then once I’d been isolated for like, I think we did it. It was again, it was really early. So we were on the very safe side. So once I’d been alone for about I think 15 or 16 days, I went home to the family.

Dr. Bob Wachter

to the family, you came home to Los Angeles from New York?

Ben Platt 

I was already in I did isolation in Los Angeles, just in a separate location from my family’s home. And then I moved back in with my parents, as soon as it was done. As soon as that 15-16 days was done, and I was feeling entirely normal for a number of days to be extra safe. And then I came back and stayed with the family for most of last year.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Wow, how about you Jonah?

Jonah Platt 

So I got COVID in mid-December, when I first had it presented as a fever in a way that it felt a little familiar with fever, body aches, chills, it felt like one of the you know worst flus I’d had. And that was for the first day or two it would get sort of better as the day would go on. I actually hosted a live event on Zoom in those first two days, which wasn’t the most fun, but I was able to get through it as that you know by towards the end of the day, I would always be feeling a little bit better as being up and moving. And then by like day three that had mostly subsided, and for my wife it her worst symptom really was a cough, which never happened to me at all.

Jonah Platt  10:06

I never had any kind of cough after the fever and chills and body aches had subsided and I was taking a lot of Tylenol. It turned into just like a really nasty cold for me that lasted maybe like two weeks. And the worst of the cold was upfront. And it felt like I lost my taste and smell as well. And it felt like I could like feel it like being blocked. In my like nose and brain like that, like access to smell and taste was being like physically cut off. It was a weird sensation. But I could sort of feel like there was like a door shutting. And so my wife and I ate really spicy Japanese ramen soup, like every day for like a week.

Jonah Platt 

And with that I could get to that somehow the heat and the spice made it through that blockage and gave me some flavor because that for me, that for me was the most disconcerting part because I love I’m a big foodie been to wine. And the fact that I would bite into something and taste nothing was very messed with my head. Yeah, part I didn’t like. But thank God, you know, we rebounded quickly. Like I said, My wife’s worst symptoms was a cough, my son, he really only had like, he had a pretty bad like runny nose. But he was his energy was great. his worst thing was, and I guess this is sort of typical in little kids for two days.

Jonah Platt

Once each day, he had like a really painful stomach attack like that I can only describe as like a pain attack, which was really not fun to watch as a parent, because you’re kind of helpless. Yeah. But he was just clearly in pain in his stomach and crying and squirming and there was nothing really we could do. We gave him Mylicon, which is what we usually give when he has an upset stomach, something like that. But thank God, it was only two days, and they were one little attack each day. And then he bounced right back right away. So thank God, it was ultimately pretty mild for all of us. No lingering effects for any of the three of us. And here we are on the other side feeling a little bit stronger.

Dr. Bob Wachter  12:08

Nice to hear. I’m glad for all of you that you made it through it. Okay. Marc, tell us about your year. I don’t think you got ill. But you certainly had to think about bubbles and how you’re going to sort organize your life. We’ll get to the professional part later, but just your personal life.

Marc Platt 

So I work at Motion Picture Studio Universal Studios, is where my company is housed. And I have an office in New York. So I’m generally back and forth. I was in London about to begin shooting a film. When I flew home as things were beginning to shut down. And within a couple days of my arrival home, everything shut down. First, the studio of my business on Broadway shut down. And my stage business around the world shut down. And then the city of Los Angeles shut down. I remained at home with my wife. And early on, we made a decision that we were going to exist in a bubble that was our children who live here in Los Angeles who live in separate homes, that we trusted them and they trusted us.

Marc Platt

Particularly, Julie felt very, very importantly, that the mental health component, she felt was as important as the severe limitations we put on our leaving the home which we never did other than to go to my daughter’s house, Jonah’s house, I had my two younger kids living with me Ben, his younger brother, Henry, and my daughter, Hannah had an apartment in LA. So we went to LA so I guess that was the biggest choice for me was that we were going to merge as a family. So that we had three environments. We could exist in the two kids houses, and in our home, we never went out except to get groceries, certainly in the beginning. And then we eventually found someone to help us out with that.

Marc Platt  14:03

We were very strict initially in terms of things that were delivered to the house as many people were in the washing down, disinfecting of everything from food delivery to boxes, that sort of eased up through time as more information came in. And also we lived a pretty hermetically sealed existence. But the family merge was a big deal to us and really was welcomed relief, not just because we could be with our kids and grandkids, but that we could be in three different environments from time to time just literally go into someone else’s backyard where you felt safe. made a difference over you know, it’s now been a year or this week. I think we’ll be one year.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Yeah, think about how hard it is for people that couldn’t have done that and you’re lucky to have fat family around, it’s really a blessing.

Marc Platt 

Yes, indeed.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Ben, Dear Evan Hansen is about a teenager with social anxiety, does that give you any special insight into or empathy toward teenagers having lived through the last year?

Ben Platt 

Certainly, I mean, I think I separate from Evan Hansen is and deal with my own anxiety, both socially and sort of privately. And I think that because of Evan Hansen experience, I was exposed to a lot of kids who felt very isolated, and who felt very seen by that particular piece, who had a lot of trouble connecting with sort of the regular rules and regulations. So certainly, I would think that was exacerbated by them being sort of cornered into their homes and rooms and apartments and sort of disconnected from everybody.

Ben Platt 

I think, as horrifying as technology is, in many ways, as we’ve seen, and also the way in which that this has sort of acted as like a reset in that regard in terms of social media, and people realizing how necessary it is to have human connection and really learning to miss that and not take that for granted. On the other hand, I do think it’s been a bit of a Savior for a lot of young people that they can connect online and see people on Instagram lives and there’s Tiktok showing slices of life all over the world.

Ben Platt  16:05

And there’s, you know, forums to discuss things and there’s FaceTime, and there’s Zoom. And I think, yeah, that my sort of main takeaway in terms of social anxiety is the dichotomous kind of realization that those things are really important and would have, we wouldn’t have really been able to get through this time without them. But also once we are out of the tunnel, I think there’s going to be a desire to remove oneself from those things and really go back to in person conversation and closer human connection, which I think are both good takeaways, hopefully.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Marc already talked about house projects were in the works and got scuttled, or at least had to change. Ben and Jonah, did you have things that were cooking that had to change? Or got canceled? Maybe I’ll start with Jonah.

Jonah Platt 

Yeah, I was actually in the middle of performances for new musical here in LA called FOUND, which thank God, we had gotten like 75% of the way through our run, but we had to shut that down sort of in the middle of the week. That was sort of the last thing I got to be a part of. And then I was supposed to have been going to New York to start another new musical in May. And that’s been indefinitely postponed, you know, the whole basically theater just went away. So anything theatrical that was coming up is gone. So that was definitely sad. But one of those things where you’re, you know, what can you do? It was sort of like, there’s no use struggling, it’s everything’s gone. It’s shutting down. So hopefully, we’ll find a way to get back to them in the future.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Yeah. Ben, did you have anything cooking that get stopped?

Ben Platt 

Gratefully, the sort of main thing that was on the docket for me was to work on a second on a sophomore album with Atlantic Records. And I had just begun that process at the beginning of COVID. And thankfully, that turned out to be a very adaptable thing. And I ended up writing the entire album, from my childhood bedroom via Zoom and a few in person distance sessions in the summer when things were a bit more open, which was a very bizarre and very wonderful experience, because I thankfully had an outlet creatively to focus on.

Ben Platt  18:25

But other than that, I’m involved in this Merrily We Roll Along film this Richard Linklater film that’s supposed to sort of take place over a long period of time, and we were meant to do our first round of shooting, and that has been definitely moved. And the only other project was the Dear Evan Hansen film, which thankfully, at towards the end of the year, we got to do under obviously strict protocol. I’m sure we’ll discuss.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Well, that’s actually a good pivot to the industry. And I want to spend most of our time talking about the adaptations that the industry has made. I think those of us who are on the outside watching, looking in, which is everybody have seen obviously theater ending some outdoor performances, the growth of direct to streaming movies, award shows and talk show hosts with no audience. We’ve all seen that. But maybe Marc, what are some of the other changes that the industry has had to make that we might not have been privy to?

Marc Platt 

Well, I’ll start with the live entertainment business as the easiest because it hasn’t come back yet. So there really haven’t been changes implemented. My business is live entertainment is mostly Broadway. Broadway is not constructed, and not conducive to any kind of substantial adaptation because the structures that houses are old the ventilation is not great, and the seats are close together and the economics demand that you have as many people in the house as you can, in order to fund the cost of putting on the show. So that business is for sure in an induced coma at the moment.

Marc Platt 

And hopefully we’ll come back but probably, we’re hoping in the fall, but not until there is the kind of herd immunity that does exist that not just allow for safety, but for the public to feel comfortable and confident that they can go into a situation, the ventilation will be addressed. Well, people wear masks that that’s happening in Australia now there’s live theater, the audience is completely masked, although the COVID right there is has been in is substantially de minimis. So there’s hope for that. But I do think it will take a level of immunity, as opposed to the other kind of adaptation that one can do before you really see it come back in a way that’s robust.

Marc Platt  20:43

In the film business to your point. It was a time and is a time where, thankfully, the need for content and the availability of content is actually very helpful thing to the millions of folks stuck at home, looking for some kind of entertainment. So the question very quickly became, how can one accomplish that kind of entertainment. So when the graduation, LeBron James did a national graduation, high school graduation, telecast was on all the networks that was very early on, and anyone who participate in that like Ben and Jonah and their brother, Henry, they were in a studio all by themselves, they were front of a green screen, so that the people eventually who were behind them were, were zoomed in, they weren’t there.

Marc Platt 

They were in the studio, separated social distance, they’re the only ones in the room, the camera was operated remotely, etc. That said, as time evolved, and protocols were developed, but how can you make a television program or a film, and do it in a setting that is safe? The scientific medical side of that with that to great expense, I might add, every television show, every film has an additional cost to it of often millions of dollars, that enable these kind of protocol. There’s a medical team assigned to each situation each show each program each movie. And there’s a very substantial testing process that’s implemented.

Marc Platt  22:17

Most of it is a PCR test, which is or I’ll let you say, but seems to be the one you can rely on the most. There’s also rapid testing employed, which seemed to me again, I’m not a doctor, but seem to be a little less reliable, but nonetheless, psychologically was very important. So what the system did was create pods, different zones, the innermost zone, Zone A, were those individuals who would be on set around actors, everybody was masked, and shielded, and is masked and shielded it all the time. But of course, when a camera rolls, an actor has to take off his her or their mask, and his or her their shield. So they’re vulnerable in that moment.

Marc Platt

So the Zone A group, in most of the films, I’ve done a test it a minimum of three times a week, I’ve done a couple of films during COVID, the one I did in Atlanta, which was Dear Evan Hansen the testing was every day, a couple PCRs and rapids every day before you came to set. Everyone was masked and shielded. Social distance, the working hours on a film very important because every day is so expensive, usually work 12 or more hours a day, the working hours were cut to 10 hours a day period with no exception. And no overtime, will usually there’s a break for a meal, there was no break for meals, we work straight through..

Dr. Bob Wachter 

What was the rationale for cutting the time, Marc?

Marc Platt 

The rationale for cutting the time was a couple of things. One is rest, the rest and well-being of the crew, and the actors not wanting folks to tire out and become fatigued during a time where they might be vulnerable or their immune systems might be vulnerable. So we’ll focus on that number one. Number two is a little more intensity in the hours there with the hope of getting to work, working hard and getting home, less hours you’re in a group of people, the less risk you take and transmission. So there was that.

Ben Platt  24:13

Losing the communal lunch also, right? Is a part of that?

Marc Platt 

Yes. And although some shows do still have a lunch not communal, but the risk of people congregating while they’re down not working. So what happened was while you’re working, all the food was boxed in individual boxes, there was no collective shared food because there often always are on movie sets. And someone would deliver it to you and you’d eat off to the side or somebody watch what you’re doing so that you would never congregating with anyone. We never had that you know you’ve seen director chairs that people sit in on the sets and folks watch a monitor as to what’s being shot. No chairs allowed on the set with exception of the director and the script supervisor.

Marc Platt 

So someone like me brought a miniature stool with me that I could put over my shoulder and carry, again, all to discourage any kind of congregating. There were folks hired, three to a set that were just the Wranglers. Their job was literally to say, hey, you’re closer than six feet move apart. The handles of most doors, […] were taken off, and a foot pedal was installed in each door. So doors could be open with your foot, although there was hand sanitizer dispensers literally put every few feet apart.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

So I’m thinking about that, of course famous opening scene from Lala Land there outside, but it’s a cast of about a billion people would you have done that differently if you were filming it this year?

Marc Platt 

I think today, if it was literally today, we would have tested those folks over three-, four- or five-day period, tested morning of and because it’s outside, and you’re on your own, the mask only comes off when we call, you know, getting ready to shoot, getting ready action masks off. And then the minute the director yells, cut, there’s the Wrangler that yells masks on. So I think we would have probably shot that scene, because it was outside that way would if it were inside, I’m not so sure. But look, we are getting better and understanding the virus the way you know, thanks to folks like yourself. And so the protocol has been working. There hasn’t been a lot of transmission on set that I’m aware of anywhere. That extent that had been positive tests.

Marc Platt  26:30

But those have occurred with folks once they’ve gone home because the bubbles aren’t hermetically sealed bubbles and more like professional sports bubbles. Not like the NBA did. But like current protocol, the vetting of the testing seems to work and keep people out. Movies have shut down frequently not because of transmission on the set. But because of close contact, because somebody who tested positive, let’s say a hair and makeup person was deemed to close contact to, let’s say, five people, three of whom were actors. So therefore, out of abundance of caution, those actors have to sit down for used to be 14 days, I believe it’s now 10 days.

Marc Platt

And very little, at least at the time we were making the movies, no one would count a false positive that there was a positive test you had to treat close contact, as if it was positive. I say that because in most instances, folks who tested positive ended up testing negative within if you had two PCR negatives, you can come back to work. And no symptoms of course, that’s assuming you’re symptom free. But if you’re close contact, even though you have no symptoms, and you test negative, negative negative, you can’t come back to work for 10 days. And that has shut down a lot of movies for a week or two.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Wow. Which I assume is billions of dollars..

Marc Platt 

Very expensive, very, very expensive.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Ben, what was your experience in filming? Dear Evan Hansen, I assume you went through all this what it feels like to be an actor.

Ben Platt

Definitely strange, especially since we were sort of some of the guinea pigs in terms of a larger studio film doing this. And so there was not a lot of sort of roadmap for me as an actor. But thankfully, as my dad has described, it was really, really well handled to an insane extent, which in terms of health and safety was really nice and was obviously felt like we were taking good care of each other. But of course, very challenging as an actor it’s particularly with material that’s already quite painful and dramatic and playing a character that’s already very isolated and spends a lot of time alone. It was a very isolating experience; you lose a lot of the camaraderie that you is what makes filmmaking and storytelling so special.

Ben Platt  28:35

And we were incredibly fortunate that we got to create the story regardless. But it certainly made the hours we were there a lot more focused, for better or worse, like my dad was saying, he sort of felt like, if we’re going to do this and risk this and go through all this trouble and spend all this money to make sure that everybody’s testing and remaining healthy, then we need to be sort of giving our all in the times that we do have to be together and congregate to a certain extent. And so it was pretty efficient, in terms of using the time well, and it was the saving grace for me was certainly getting to have a small, small bubble with the other four or five principles that were there for the duration of the shoot, that are in the same bubble as I am. So I know that they’re taking the same tests and being held to the same standards that I am.

Ben Platt 

So I am able to see them, you know, in our respective Atlanta homes and onset and there are, you know, three or four people that I’m allowed to hug and be near, which was certainly a saving grace not having to be entirely alone. And then of course, in this very special case, having my dad around was really comforting and special as well. However, also quite strange given that because of these close contact rules that we were describing, and because of the protocols, we stayed very much apart from each other and didn’t really get to see each other much in person or obviously touched whatsoever, which was again, quite a strange experience but very lucky to have him even in the ether around. Certainly made me feel a lot safer.

Marc Platt 

Yeah, it’s not an experience that’s conducive to creating because creating is about people collaborating. Yeah. And it wasn’t particularly joyful. And none of the movies are making the experience is once the cameras roll, you’re doing your work. I think, you know, movies employ hundreds of people I think people were with and it were really grateful to be working. And going back to work this, you know, people need their paychecks. And we’re very grateful It is a very stressful environment, you know, particularly if you’re sort of a producer, and each day as the test come in, you’re not only worried about, are we going to shoot a good day of storytelling today? But you know, is everybody healthy and safe? And how can you make sure they remain so.

Dr. Bob Wachter  30:34

Yeah. Jonah, one of the things that strikes me about the industry is it’s not quite gymnastics that you only have a few years to make it before you age out. But there probably are some kids that are at the stage where, you know, they have a couple of years to show their stuff on Broadway. I don’t know if you know, people like that. And if you know how people are feeling is it just feel like this is a hiatus and life will get back to normal in a year, and it won’t really cost me much of my career, or do you have friends that are worried that this actually is going to be kind of this would have been their opportunity for their breakout moment, they won’t have it?

Jonah Platt 

I think for the most part, people are treating it like a hiatus. I think those who aren’t, are maybe people who, unfortunately, were already sort of on the fence and struggling with their careers, and then had to take a year timeout and don’t know when it’s coming back. And we’re sort of already thinking, is this the right path for me? Am I ever going to make it? And unfortunately, this was sort of the last straw that maybe pushes them over and says, I can’t wait anymore, I want to get my life started. So I do know some people like that, who were maybe already teetering, and this push them over the edge. But for the most part, you know, this is people’s livelihood. This is what they all they know how to do. This is what they’ve done their whole lives and they’re patiently waiting till they get another crack at it.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Yeah. And in my completely ignorant, stereotypical view of your world, when you’re not acting, you’re a waiter, and you couldn’t have been a waiter this year. So what do people do for an income?

Jonah Platt  32:10

Well, there’s two answers. One is I had a lot of friends, if we’re talking specifically musical theater, a lot of people turn to teaching, a lot of coaching, which you can easily do remotely, I have one friend who like built out a whole vocal school curriculum that she launched, you know, people found ways to do what they do in that educational setting. And then for someone like me, actually, I turned to writing, which often goes hand in hand acting and writing.

Jonah Platt

And writing thank God is something you could do remotely. And I actually partnered with my dad, his company, my producing partner, we sold an animated show, which again, is another thing that was is a great thing to do remotely animation, you don’t all have to be together. So we were able to work on that pitch it remotely via Zoom to different networks, collaborate on it remotely see the artwork remotely, and don’t need to be with anyone else to sit at a computer and write.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Wow, congratulations. That’s very cool.

Jonah Platt

Thank you.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Marc, you know, the pitches again, I know nothing about the industry. But you know, legendarily, you come into the room, you’re sitting in the room, the producer takes the script and throws it at you. That can’t happen in a virtual world. So how is the pitch process? And you’re sorting out what to go with? How did that change this year?

Marc Platt 

Well, I can still throw scripts at people, don’t worry. No, I don’t do that. I think it’s what I think is what Jonah kind of said it is, you know, you find ways in the how do you pitch an idea? How do you communicate story? How do you that part of the business, I think is remain very robust. And Jonah’s presentation was all on Zoom. You know Zoom allows for that. It’s not quite the shame as being in a room and a back and forth. But it worked because their visual materials that he presented on the Zoom, sharing the screen, and then you know, you do have someone’s focused attention on Zoom, there aren’t, you’re not the noise of an office isn’t there, and the phones, etc.

Marc Platt  34:18

And so, that part of it, it works very well. The shelling of ideas, and the developing of the written material, the script, you can sit on a zoom, and you can give a writer notes, I still don’t find it as completely creative, effective as sitting in a room for a few hours and going back and forth. Because the creative process is that it’s a very subjective process. But nonetheless, it still works. auditioning is a little bit of a different situation. It’s very hard not to be in a room with an actor you don’t know. So your experience is purely over the screen and you’re giving direction over the screen or making suggestions. So it’s all slightly removed. But everyone adapts to it.

Marc Platt

And it’s allowed a good portion of the business to keep moving, which again is good, both from all the people who are employed and rely on the workings of my industry and also, the end product being something that consumption of which has been particularly valuable at a time when people needed distraction and needed to sort of get outside their lives or metaphorically get outside of their apartments or their rooms by entering a world they would not otherwise have gotten to experience.

Dr. Bob Wachter

Clearly the net-net for theater has been terrible. What’s the net-net been for movies given that you say people are sitting at home and want content, is it been good?

Marc Platt

I think the net-net has been the following — the cost of making the films is more expensive. And because of COVID protocol, because all those protocols are listed takes a lot of money, the labs, the testing the PPE equipment, the retrofitting, I mean, we did Dear Evan Hansen’s musical, we built a recording a very, very sort of rough recording studio, but one that was COVID friendly. So no one had to leave the environment and go into a strange environment for example. So the cost is more as some kinds of movies are probably are not getting made because of the scale of them. And the challenge of it in COVID.

Marc Platt  36:26

But the biggest change is in the consumption of it because people are far more use now to sitting home alone, or with their families and watching stories, which was always a trend in streaming got significantly accelerated during COVID, it became the only way to deliver films and I think moving forward you will see it, you will see a change. The streaming platforms are proliferating, accelerating, putting way more of the resources into it. And the kinds of movies that are getting made are wide spectrum, the kinds of streaming the kind of movies that people will go out to the theater and see once we can come back. And by the way, movie theaters can social distance more effectively than live entertainment because you can run a movie 10 times a day in one theater across many theaters and do 25% or 50% capacity.

Marc Platt 

But whether people will come out to it number one, we have to see I hope they will because films are really wanting to be social collective experiences, but two, what does seem to be changing is the kinds of movies that will end up in the theaters, which will probably be bigger, more event, branded kind of films, franchise movies, that you have to go see in the theater and that feel urgent to leave your home. Whereas a lot of the smaller, kind of more interesting films that Bob you and I probably enjoy the most will probably be left in streaming. So that part of the business has the effect of COVID definitely has at the very least accelerated if not sort of forced it into a situation where streaming will be the way most people will consume their entertainment.

Dr. Bob Wachter  38:10

It’s interesting, it reminds me of my field in that telemedicine was kind of ready for primetime. But we were doing 1%  or 2% of our visits that way and we in a month we went to 70%. And now we’ll probably level out at about 25% and we’re trying to figure out which patients really need to be seen in person which patients can be seen and cared for adequately through telemedicine sounds like some of the same thinking that you’re going through.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

What, as you love to hear from Ben and Jonah about the recording industry, but from the movie industry, Marc, you make a decision now, about greenlighting a movie, a script, and how it’s going to roll out. Is it theaters? Is it going to be streaming both at the same time? How’s that decision different now than it would have been? Let’s say a year and a half ago?

Marc Platt

It’s different because it’s the key question. Which by the way, as a producer, you don’t really necessarily get the answer, because a studio might decide they want the right to pivot and decide because the world’s unknown still, you know what the world looks like in terms of people going out? You could you should tell us actually, when will people be able to go out in and be comfortable sitting in a crowded theater again?

Dr. Bob Wachter

November 14th.

Marc Platt 

Okay, I’ll take that date. That’s excellent.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

I have no idea.

Marc Platt 

I mean, we’re all interested as to why the numbers are falling so fast and that is a sign of some kind of immunity or if it’s a behavioral change, or if it’s a function of folks, you know, enough folks having had the virus and having antibodies plus the vaccinations plus behavior. But that choice is a big one. As I said, a lot of films will know going into it. It’s a streaming film. And I don’t know that anyone knows for sure what will be theatrical, making a film now, is the Little Mermaid, the live action version of the animated film very big, expensive film, because it’s a lot of computer-generated world of under the water that feels like a film. And the studio is very committed that it will be in theaters.

Marc Platt  40:26

Live action and go to the theater to see it before it’s on streaming. But at the same time, I’m saying that the streaming platform, it does need the company making this film couldn’t be more successful and couldn’t be acquiring more subscribers as we speak. So it’s an evolving business. And it’s definitely the impact of COVID has been substantial Disney’s an interesting company, of course, because, you know, 50 cents 52 cents on the dollar in that company, a year ago, literally today was based on live entertainment, whether it was a theme park, cruise ship, a Broadway show, that’s all changed, and companies adapted accordingly.

Dr. Bob Wachter

Yeah, yeah. I mean, the reason I’m a little facetious about the date, I think we’re gonna be better at telling you the date at which people will be vaccinated and maybe reached herd immunity. It’s up to us, we need sociologists, and psychologists tell us the date that I am going to feel comfortable walking into a theater, sitting, you know, six inches away from somebody I don’t know, next to me, it’s gonna feel really weird for a while, in the same way it felt like weird to be wearing a mask and how long that weirdness is gonna last? I don’t have any idea. That sounds like that’s a key economic question.

Marc Platt

Right. I mean, some of that, that emotional psychological impact will come from hopefully the kind of research that you’re just doing, you’re just able to do now how effective you know, if you’re vaccinated, can you still transmit? Can you carry and transmit with seemingly the latest literature’s in a good direction from what I’m reading. Although you would know more than me. About that but not yet, I guess, you know, resolute enough to know for certain, and what is this trend that the numbers are falling in such a fast way off the cliff and hopefully that is some kind of immunity.

Dr. Bob Wachter  42:09

Hopefully, it’ll stick. Yeah, it probably is. But some combination of immunity, and both from infection from vaccines and behavior and what the mix is. And what happens is the variant spread is kind of the big open question. Ben, in general, what do you think’s gonna happen to the both the theater and the live music business? You know, how are the businesses adapting? It strikes me that as Marc said that, you know, theater is even harder than movies in a way? What do you think maybe start with Ben.

Ben Platt 

I guess I’ll just speak to the sort of recording and live performing as in terms of pop music, and that has been like kind of a booming thing during this year, just in terms of people need content to consume and something to discuss, and an event to discuss that can be achieved remotely. And music is really that it can be achieved pretty much entirely remotely. And if you’re shooting content, or music videos that I’m like I’m about to do for my album, those things can be very well, kind of protocol, particularly since they’re usually one or two days, rather than an entire film. So it is all very possible to create that content.

Ben Platt 

And then I think that, from what I understand from sort of colleagues in the music industry, there’s a real hunger that is building up for live performance obviously, and a few kind of very optimistic acts have started to put tours on sale for either late in the fall, or in the winter, or like the beginning of 22. And the few people that have tried or sort of dip their toes in have found a real sort of consumer hunger and a real kind of selling out quite quickly.

Ben Platt 

Because I think people, particularly young people, who hopefully have been behaving well, but apart from that, probably feel the least threatened by this in general, I think are raring to go to something like that and to re-enter the world. And so I would hope that once things are safe, there’s a bit of a renaissance in that regard in terms of being open to seeing all kinds of acts and music and live music being really pertinent. And I personally hope to tour at the beginning of 2022, as well. So, knock on wood.

Dr. Bob Wachter  44:04

Great. Jonah, what do you think particular with Broadway? Or with live theater? What do you think the future is and how might have changed over the past year?

Jonah Platt 

I have to imagine that with Broadway as my dad was saying it’s such a specific animal, that it sort of only really functions in one way. So I think it’s going to have to wait until it can revert to the pre COVID way of running, or it’s not gonna be there at all. It’s kind of an all or nothing thing. You know, and I think people will be more cautious at first and they’ll be like my dad said, there’ll be new ventilation in these theaters, and they’ll probably be more, you know, hand sanitizer dispensers around and things of that nature. But I really think it’s going to have to just sort of be like it always was, which hopefully will feel nice once we get to that point and will feel familiar and comfortable.

Dr. Bob Wachter

But you think it’s probably the last thing to come back and feels like even a big concert, I imagine the economics of being in a 5000 seat, outdoor arena, if you have 2000 people there probably works. Whereas for a Broadway show, it’s probably what is the number markups not 90% full, doesn’t work?

Marc Platt 

It depends on the cost of the show. But most shows need to run at least in the 75% to 100% range, you know, new shows, and particularly to run. You know, the interesting about Broadway is it is also and why there’s a lot of why we’re rooting for it, not just for the cultural collective experience, it is also the number one sort of revenue driver in New York City, as a city, it’s actually derives more revenue comes from Broadway than the sports teams. For example, if you could imagine, from the hundreds of people who work in the theaters to the businesses around the theaters like restaurant to the hotels, etc. There’s something like 90,000 jobs that would have been lost in this time period. And, you know, billions of dollars of revenue.

Marc Platt  46:08

So there’s a real focus in that community of how we bring it back to your point, Bob, how we make people comfortable, there’s all sorts of focus on that. And I do believe in the next year, that you will see it come back. Interestingly enough, the touring companies, which are also going to launch in the fall, I believe, in some ways have a little bit of an easier time, most of the theaters like three in San Francisco, are bigger theaters, they seek more people, which means you might be able to do less capacity, but also they don’t rely on tourists the way Broadway does. If your show come to San Francisco, it’s usually the folks in that area who come to see it. So we’re very hopeful that it will come back in the next within the next year for sure.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

If you think about an existential threat to either one, I guess I can see never going to see a movie in a theater again, I can’t see never going to a theater to see a show again, you know that it feels like they might have different trajectories, they’re somewhat different experiences. Do we know anything about that from the experience of Hamilton? Or maybe what Ben’s […] on you and Ben are gonna experience with Dear Evan Hansen? In terms of do people really prefer to see it live? Or is it possible they’re gonna get theater from their TV the way they get movies?

Marc Platt 

Well, look at that Hamilton thing was wonderful. I think the capture of shows is interesting. But you’re still watching through a screen, I guess you probably dealt with this as much as we have at being just a doctor, which is we are as human social creatures. And you know, the collective experience we share, be it the intimacy of a family, the intimacy of a romance, or the collective experience of laughing with people and experiencing a live performer. Those are, I just think, innate in us. And it may take some time, but it seems unless the virus is even smarter and trickier than any of us can imagine today, at this point that it will come back because we all need it to we all need that that’s part of what makes the human experience human. Is the collective nature of it. And experience of it.

Dr. Bob Wachter  48:19

Yeah, I certainly hope so. Let me go around one last question for each of you sort of what are you most looking forward to, in the next year either performing and watching changes in the industry? Maybe start with Jonah?

Jonah Platt 

Well, I’ll answer it in two ways. One, I’m interested to see how with this industry, and as with every industry, and every little pocket of every industry, what hybrid models survive this period, because sort of everybody was forced to go 100% digital and remote, and some people discovered a lot of really new, exciting, broader audience kind of things. And I think we’re gonna hold on to some of those things, but worked and go back to the old way, and others. So I’m interested to see within entertainment as with the rest of the world, what hybrid models remain, what we keep and what we go back to.

Jonah Platt 

And then the other thing I’ll respond to say is just I’m, of course, I’m so excited for live theater, to come back both as a performer and as a lover of theater and audience member. And as a friend of so many people working in that industry, who I’m seeing just not work. So I will really be happy for everybody to be back up and added and creating things and making audiences happy and excited again.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Yeah, can’t wait. How about you, Ben?

Ben Platt 

I would respond very similarly, I can’t wait to perform and even more so to go and see live theater, I’d say that’s my favorite sort of activity in the world on a normal day. And so I think having that gone entirely, I would imagine there’ll be a newfound appreciation and love for that experience that will last a really long time. And I’m, I’m very excited for that both in terms of the experience of the art and the escaping one’s own mind and also the social experience of having a shared bonding experience of the same ephemeral life performance with, you know, people in my life with friends, with my family, with my boyfriend and things we’ve been missing, and just getting to sing my own music in front of other people. It’s been a long time since I’ve done that.

Dr. Bob Wachter  50:14

Yeah, and I can only imagine, you know, the feedback that you get from being out there and seeing how people are reacting must be just vastly different than what you get when you’re singing into a screen.

Ben Platt 

Certainly, it’s a lot more instant gratification and a lot more of a warmth and a sort of fleeting, special kind of a fleeting experience. That’s not the case through a screen. So I’m ready to have that back.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Yeah. Marc, we’ll end with you.

Marc Platt 

I would say I would answer as probably most parents would answer, which is I can’t wait to see my kids and my grandkids do the things they love to do, that they haven’t been able to do. And my family. Part of that is live performance. So seeing, you know, seeing my boys get to perform again and watching the joy they have or my youngest son, Henry, sing with his group, which we haven’t been able to or, or play Little League or play basketball like my grandsons do the things as a you know, that you want for your kids and your grandkids that were gone in an instant.

Marc Platt 

And so watching them come back and […] to experience, what brings them joy, I think is what I look forward to. The most, professionally I do look forward to when the curtain goes up again, I have a musical Wicked that’s been around for a very long time that actually started in San Francisco many, many years ago, and I’m very much looking forward to the first line of that play being performed in front of a live audience. And the first line of that play is spoken by the character, Linda, a good witch. And the first line is, “it’s good to see me, isn’t it?”

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Well, that, of course, is a perfect ending, no surprise that you came up with a perfect ending (laughs) thank you to the three of you, you have brought amazing a tremendous amount of joy into everyone’s lives, including my own. And you will continue to do that just hopefully with more forms as we go into this, hopefully better and more normal world. So thanks for spending the time with us. And thank you for all you do to bring joy and happiness and insight into people’s lives. Really appreciate it.

Marc Platt  52:17

Thank you, Bob. And thank you also for keeping all of us in the non-medical world, abreast and inform with all your wonderful tweets throughout the last year in terms of your assessment, and your calmness and interpretation of what was going on, and how it evolved. Many of us looked forward to that every day, and needed that kind of steady guidance and objective scientific kind of approach and understanding what you provide on a daily basis. So for that we’re grateful as well.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

Thank you so much. Thanks for saying that.

Jonah Platt 

Thanks, everybody.

Dr. Bob Wachter

Well, I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. They are really an extraordinary group of people and what amazing talent, they’re also nice, folks, it’s nice to see, I think, for me, I will appreciate seeing a film or a concert or a show, even more than I did before knowing what goes into it. And watching movies that I know were filmed during COVID. Now it’s really amazing what they had to do to make that happen. And so when I watched Dear Evan Hansen in the fall, which I can’t wait for, I will really appreciate what went on behind the scenes. So I’m really grateful to Marc, Ben and Jonah for joining us today.

Dr. Bob Wachter

We have some other great shows coming up here on IN THE BUBBLE. We will talk about Israel. Israel, as you know has been this extraordinary performer when it comes to vaccination. They have vaccinated nearly everybody over age 70 or 75, and the majority of adults in Israel way ahead of any other country in the world, including the United States. And they are also beginning to implement what are sometimes called “vaccine or immunity passports” where people need to show proof of vaccination in order to enter certain workplaces and certain other events, including things like concerts so relevant to our last discussion. We’ll hear about what life is like in Israel these days and what they’ve learned from their early experience with widespread vaccination we’ll hear about that from Ronit Calderon-Margalit.

Dr. Bob Wachter  54:42

Who’s a professor of epidemiology at Hadassah, Hebrew University, Braun School of Public Health. We’re also hitting our one-year anniversary of COVID. Depends on how you define that but for me, it’s the time where it became very clear that this was real. In San Francisco things shut down in I believe on March 13, in the state of California shut down on March 18th. And many states followed a few days after. So we’re about a year into this one, it really was very real for all of us in the United States, although certainly was real in China and in Italy before that. So we thought it would be useful and interesting to have a kind of one year look back and look forward with three folks who have been looking at the pandemic from very different perspectives.

Dr. Bob Wachter 

One, Ashish Jha, who is Dean of the Brown School of Public Health, and has been all over the media, because he’s really quite brilliant in giving perspective about the pandemic. The second is a Apoorva Mandavilli, who has emerged this year as one of the essential journalists in reporting on the science and policy aspects related to the pandemic, as you know, Apoorva writes to the New York Times, and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, who has been at the leading edge of thinking about the pandemic from the standpoint of a governor and policymaker, and he was also the third guest ever, with Andy on IN THE BUBBLE. And so it’ll be interesting to catch up with the governor, as he has a chance to reflect on all of the challenges that he’s faced over the past year.

Dr. Bob Wachter  56:13

Finally, a third show I want to tell you about is we’re going to do a show where we talk about lessons from HIV-AIDS, and to leaders in public health who were there in the early years of HIV-AIDS. And we’ll talk about what lessons they learned from that and how they were relevant to COVID. And, in some ways, lessons that we did not learn that hopefully we will learn after COVID as we prepare for another pandemic, which unfortunately will come at some point. The two folks we’ll talk with for that show are Gregg Gonsalves of Yale and Carlos Del Rio from Emory and I look forward to that. So until then, please stay safe and I look forward to speaking with you soon.

CREDITS

We’re a production of Lemonada Media. Kryssy Pease and Alex McOwen produced our show. Our mix is by Ivan Kuraev. Jessica Cordova Kramer and Stephanie Wittels Wachs executive produced the show. Our theme was composed by Dan Molad and Oliver Hill and additional music by Ivan Kuraev. You can find out more about our show on social media at @InTheBubblePod. Until next time, stay safe and stay sane. Thanks so much for listening.