Michael Bay, the filmmaker known most for his work on the Transformers franchise and his production company Platinum Dunes, is under hot water from a number of entertainment unions for his upcoming pandemic thriller Songbird. The film, which follows people navigating a pandemic, received a ‘do not work order’ from both the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The project had been set to start filming this month, but union reps claim that the producers of the film, including Bay himself, “have not been transparent about their safety protocols.”

The rep would go on to state that the producer has also failed to complete signatory process for it to be a sanctioned union film, “The producer of the picture entitled ‘Songbird,’ has failed to complete the signatory process and is therefore not signed to any applicable SAG-AFTRA agreement. As such, SAG-AFTRA members are hereby instructed to withhold any acting services or perform any covered work for this production until further notice from the union.”

As of June 12th, film and television production was allowed to continue in the Los Angeles area, but any project still needs procedures on set to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic.