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Netflix is making a comedy set in the coronavirus outbreak

"Orange Is the New Black" creator Jenji Kohan will produce a Netflix series set and filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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As hundreds of films and TV series around the world have shuttered to help stem the tide of the novel coronavirus, a new Netflix comedy aims to adapt production around quarantine.

“Social Distance,” an upcoming anthology series from “Orange Is the New Black” creator Jenji Kohan, will feature actors filming themselves in their homes while under quarantine. The series, which will be set during the COVID-19 pandemic, will begin production in a few weeks.

Hollywood is eager to get back to work after the coronavirus outbreak, but union officials, studio executives and others must first agree on new protocols to make filming safe again.

“We are challenging ourselves to do something new: To create and produce virtually so that our cast and crew can stay healthy and safe,” Kohan said in a statement. “We’ve been inspired to create an anthology series that tells stories about the current moment we are living through — the unique, personal, deeply human stories that illustrate how we are living apart, together.”

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Kohan will serve as producer on the show, which will be produced, directed and written remotely. Fellow “Orange Is the New Black” alum Hilary Weisman Graham has been named showrunner and Diego Velasco will direct.

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