Executive producer and director Michael Robin managed to come up with the idea, as well as pull it off in a month.

Three days into Robin directing CBS’s legal drama ‘All Rise’, the Coronavirus pandemic caused an industry-wide production shutdown. After failing to salvage clips or any usable content from production, Robin brainstormed the idea of using Zoom to create a timely episode for the series.

When talking about his idea for the virtual episode, Robin noted, “What if we actually saw our characters in this situation? We could literally take a Zoom grid view of all of our characters going through something and maybe we could come up with a story where they’re literally in this time?”

After CBS, Warner Bros. TV, and all of the actors signed onto his idea, showrunner Greg Spottiswood and Nelson took three days to work out the script for the project. Then, the crew shot the episode using Straight Up Technologies, which create a private room that offers better quality than 4K cameras and Zoom shots on HD monitors.

Regarding how the crew managed “location” shots, Robin said,  “The actors served as a location scout, a cinematographer and the ultimately a gaffer. They had to figure out how to light themselves, although we did FedEx a plug-in lights that go on the front of your computer.” 

The virtual episode of ‘All Rise’ was pulled off in less than four weeks, utilizing less than 50% of the show’s original staff. The promo video for the episode can be viewed at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF186wqmrbc&feature=emb_logo.