COVID-19 testing for film, TV productions done by company founded by Windsorites

While COVID-19 has had a devastating impact on many businesses, it has also created a niche for some new ones, including Pulsar UV.

Pulsar UV offers coronavirus testing and health and safety advice to film and TV productions, allowing them to continue making entertainment as the pandemic wears on.

Barbara Szeman, an assistant director who's worked on movies such as Suicide Squad and RoboCop (2014), founded the company, along with three other Windsorites with medical and film industry backgrounds.

They recognized the need for such services after production shut down last spring.

"When the pandemic hit, as for many industries, the entire film industry came to a complete halt, and we honestly just wanted to help our friends get back to work and be part of the solution," she said on Windsor Morning on Monday.

In April, she reached out to colleagues and offered them her services.

"We actually ended up running entire departments for health and safety on multi-million-dollar productions," she said.

The company's clients include major motion pictures with 200 or more people on set. The company can't disclose the names of its clients because of confidentiality agreements, but is currently working with about five productions.

"We are constantly taking calls from more productions that are opening up, so we'll be very busy this coming season," she said.

They use the polymerase chain reaction or PCR test, considered the most accurate, and will soon introduce rapid testing.

The samples are analyzed by diagnostic labs. The company has a doctor that oversees testing.

Pulsar UV will soon be offering private asymptomatic testing in Windsor, Szeman said.