SNL has made its audience paid employees to comply with New York state coronavirus rules

The New York Times

According to the state of New York's COVID-19 rules, television shows and other media productions are prohibited from having a live audience unless it is made up entirely of paid employees, cast or crew. So SNL opted to pay its audience members, technically making them a part of the cast. "Before the coronavirus outbreak, tickets to join the studio audience of Saturday Night Live were a precious commodity — offered free by NBC, but so hard to obtain that some comedy fans were willing to pay money for them," report The New York Times' Julia Jacobs and Dave Itzkoff. "But now the tickets to this long-running sketch show — still free, and still scarce — come with an added bonus: Members of its studio audience have been paid to attend. The payments are the result of new guidelines implemented by the state of New York, which has been regulating the reopening of businesses and industries during the pandemic. On Monday night, the state’s health department confirmed that SNL had followed its reopening guidelines by 'casting' members of the live audience for its season premiere on Saturday — the show’s first live episode since March 7 — and paying them for their time. (It is not clear how many audience members were paid guests.)" One audience member says he and his seven friends each received $150 from Universal Television. “We had no idea we would be paid before we were handed checks,” said the audience member. “We were all very pleasantly surprised.” A spokesperson for the state health department confirmed that SNL had followed the state’s reopening guidance by selecting audience members through a third-party screening and casting process and by compensating them for their time. “There is no evidence of noncompliance,” he said, “but if any is discovered, we will refer that to local authorities for follow-up.”