LA fires affect Apple TV+ with production delays, event cancellations

The Los Angeles wildfires are causing some major problems to the city, beyond property damage. With events canceled and filming delayed, it's causing new logistical issues for Apple TV+.

The LA wildfires are decimating homes and buildings in the area, as strong winds help the fire spread quickly. With over 30,000 acres hit by the fire, and thousands of structures affected by it, it will be a long time before restoration efforts return things to normal.

The fire doesn't just cause long-term issues, as it also introduces many short-term ones as well. With livelihoods affected by it, the fire is already impacting production and event schedules in the media-centric city.

With Apple's shift into streaming in recent years, Apple TV+ too is greatly affected by the fires.

Production problems

The most obvious issue for Apple is that the fires can impact production of shows for its streaming service. This can be for multiple reasons, with the chief one being safety.

However, other smaller effects could get in the way, affecting production. For example, a loss of power caused by the fires could make filming on set harder.

The location's atmosphere could also be affected by smoke, depending on its location. Not only will air quality be affected, but it will also interfere with filming outside, as a smoky skyline will be unavoidable.

FilmLA, a permitting agency, warned that "personnel resources ordinarily available to support film production may not be available during the local State of Emergency," reports Variety. This ranges from crew working to fight the fires to crew being personally affected by the events, and also transportation issues.

Permits for filming are also being restricted by the LA County Fire Department. Permits issued for filming in areas such as Altadena, La Crescenta, La Canada/Flintridge, and unincorporated Pasadena have been withdrawn, with the possibility of others being pulled too.

For the most part, soundstages are not in the path of the fire, but the air quality has been deemed to be too dangerous in many areas.

This has led to a spate of production delays on many projects. For Apple, the big one is Loot, the Maya Rudolph comedy being produced at the NBCUniversal Lower Lot at Universal Studios.

Other non-Apple productions hit with delays include NCIS, Grey's Anatomy, Suits LA, Fallout, and All American.

Events

While the ongoing production of shows is affected by the fires, so are shows and movies that have already completed production. A number of events set to take place have been cancelled or rearranged to a later time.

For Apple in particular, it won't be holding its planned red carpet premiere of Severance on January 13. Instead, Apple issued a notice that it was donating support to the relief efforts, and that would support those affected by the fires.

With January being part of the awards season, many ceremonies and connected events have also been postponed.

That list includes, according to Deadline, nomination announcements for the Producers Guild Awards, the Writers Guild of America Awards, and the Academy Awards. The ceremonies for the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards and the Critics Choice Awards have been arranged, while the BAFTA Tea Party was cancelled.

Apple's efforts

With the fire ongoing, Apple has stepped up by pledging to donate to relief efforts. CEO Tim Cook posted a confirmation that donations would be made "to support the victims and recovery efforts on the ground."

Apple also took the step of allowing Apple Card users residing in areas declared a natural disaster zone by FEMA to postpone their payments. Affected customers can skip a payment and no interest will accumulate after eligible customer enroll via Apple Card Support on Messages.