America's Got Talent returned to filming this week for the Judges Cuts using an outdoor venue. Simon Cowell and the producers made sure everyone was safe using social distancing, masks and pods.
The show shot in the Simi Valley on a huge outdoor movie stage that was created to look like an drive-in movie theater. The judges, Simon Cowell, Howie Mandel, Heidi Klum and Sofia Vergara sat apart to watch the acts perform.
Simon Cowell told Deadline that there was a “real buzz of excitement” to be back on a lot together. “I could see the relief on the crews faces that they were back at work and then we turned around the corner to the set we’d built and it was honestly one of the most amazing experiences I can remember for a long time,” he added.
“It was something that encompasses the Southern California lifestyle and scenery that we all know and love, and in some ways are missing right now. Wait until you see the vehicles the judges arrive in.
We simply had to have some fun with this,” added Sam Donnelly and Jason Raff. “While it was a huge endeavor to figure out how to move forward with taping our Judge Cuts at this time, the team really rose to the occasion. With the magnitude of AGT and the variety of our acts, we knew we had to come up with a really creative way to capture our performances.”
I personally now would stick to this new way we’ve done it not just for the present but for the future. I think it is a better show this year than it has been on previous years,” he added.
Simon said "safety was the “number one priority”. “If we thought anyone was at risk, we wouldn’t film. So as long as you know that people are safe, fortunately everyone who was on the lot was tested, will be tested and are continually tested. Once you know you’ve got that part and it works then the second part is putting on the show. You learn very, very quickly to adapt and the show will feel different but hopefully people will still enjoy watching a new version of the show with the principals of the show still intact,”
Could this help get Britain's Got Talent back on our screens in the near future?
The Judges Cuts can be seen on NBC August 4th.
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