America's Got Talent filmed on a drive-in theater set because producers wanted "more than just another Zoom show"

People

The NBC reality show producers had time to plot out how they would resume this season after auditions were halted in March due to the coronavirus shutdown. So when Los Angeles County allowed filming to resume last month, they settled in on a drive-in theater idea, filming in the distant Los Angeles suburb of Simi Valley. "The drive-in idea is one that came organically because, at the time, you're just reading about drive-ins," explains executive producer Sam Donnelly. "We liked the idea of being outside on a movie set location. Having the judges outside, socially distanced, but in a way that didn't feel really weird. It felt like a good solution."