old school Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 I am down town today as are 8 other companies. If I lived down here I would not be a happy camper/loft liver. Case and I are on 4th street and our company has it shut down from Grand to Broadway, about 5 blocks, and a block each way on the side streets. My brother Moe is on a process trailer driving everywhere down here. The Library Tower is blocked off. It is damn near gridlock. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad so many of us are working, but this might be nearing overload for the residents, they seem pissed off. I hope downtown makes it, but I fear these piss coated streets crawling with film crews is going to have a tough slog of it. CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Lightstone, CAS Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 Crew, That sort of sounds like it used to be up in Toronto, Canada when every other show was shooting there. Thanks to our weak dollar it's cheaper here than Canada ! Who knows some Canadian shows might have to start shooting here soon to "save" money. Payback is nice. RL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RPSharman Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Weekends are usually crazy downtown, but that seems a bit nuts. Don't wear Case out! He has been doing an outstanding job on my feature, which has turned out to be MUCH harder for him than it should have been. Sound cables to camera and a lot of unplanned re-routing. I also use rechargeable batteries, and I like to use particular brands for particular pieces of gear (it's one of my weird things), which adds another thing for him to keep up with. Low budget features tend to have a very unique pace, and he is adjusting well. Robert Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted March 23, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Hey Robert, thanks for the kind words, he is getting less green and he digs it. Don't worry, we had the easiest day recording wild track of 500 extras screaming and clapping as all sorts of characters slide down a 700 foot slip n slide in a downtown environment. We got off at 4 p.m.. Living the dream. RL it has been growing this way for some time every weekend down there. Almost seems tied to more people moving in. As far as Canada, I remember 'The 3rd Coast', ( Texas ), Florida, North Carolina, Seattle, Nuevo Mexico, being the new hollywood. That will go on forever, but try going say 20 crews deep on a given day and you will if you live n work here. I wish it would shift south to Orange County. On second thought.... CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted March 24, 2008 Report Share Posted March 24, 2008 I am down town today as are 8 other companies. If I lived down here I would not be a happy camper/loft liver. Case and I are on 4th street and our company has it shut down from Grand to Broadway, about 5 blocks, and a block each way on the side streets. My brother Moe is on a process trailer driving everywhere down here. The Library Tower is blocked off. It is damn near gridlock. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad so many of us are working, but this might be nearing overload for the residents, they seem pissed off. I hope downtown makes it, but I fear these piss coated streets crawling with film crews is going to have a tough slog of it. CrewC There really would be gridlock (and walkie chaos) if that happened here in SF. We used to have more big productions going on at the same time, but in the '90s a lot of the neighborhoods that filmmakers liked the looks of (North Beach, Presidio Heights, Pacific Heights, the Marina) got very shirty about production and production vehicles etc.. There was a brief period of equipment and people shuttling and stealth generators mounted in vans before productions gave up on us. I think either Burlingame or Atherton outlawed shooting on the street completely--we could only shoot on big private estates and production had to schedule the arrival of trucks so as not to attract attention. I hope the producers of those jobs shooting in downtown LA are taking care of business w/ the people in the neighborhood, things really can go very much against filmmaking if the residents start making a lot of complaints to the city council etc.. Philip Perkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted March 31, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 Another weekend another downtown location. Company move from SmashBox in Hwood to downtown after lunch. Four productions I counted as we rolled in and landed our company. I am sure there where more... It's all good I guess, at least I know where to go to visit friends. CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundtrane Posted March 31, 2008 Report Share Posted March 31, 2008 Most neighbourhoods in Bombay are averse to shooting - it takes one bad production... Last night the police landed on location - our time was up to 2AM, actor called in 'sick' and delayed shoot by 6 hours, thereby making us overshoot - production would not want to wrap at the earlier stipulated time, just greed, they could have easily rescheduled the scene for another day. director dragged his feet on every shot, knowing fully well... i left at 2.30 AM, i am sure i will find out when i go back tonight that the shoot went on (MOS montage sequence) until 6 in the morning... -vin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 I'm going to bring this thread back to life and suggest reading this article, which I will not cut and paste as my own... http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/features/columns/on_location/e3id07a0f842fb0accb1073776e4e083025 the problems of burning out a location are not just downtown, and when someone like Amy Aquino, a fine actress and SAG activist, joins the fray, then there must be something to it! I have had a few poor experiences with productions coming into the neighborhood where I live, too. Just a reminder that we are guests when we are "on location", and we need to all do our best to be good ones! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Ragon Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 I'm going to bring this thread back to life and suggest reading this article, which I will not cut and paste as my own... http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/features/columns/on_location/e3id07a0f842fb0accb1073776e4e083025 Wow.. All these articles seam to have a large amount of false or mis leading information in them.. I'm wondering if this is just par for the course in Hollywood, where there's simply just whatever spin seams to benefit whichever parties. -Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 OK, what was false and or misleading in this article from Biz friendly "The Hollywood Reporter"?? even before you answer, I'm going to restate that these articles do not rise to nearly the level of a major political expose by the NY Times that the President of the United States was having sexual relations with that woman in the oval office... or that Millions of $$ have been wasted, or... Thus probably the editors do not give them the multi-sourced, triple cross checked scrutiny you seem to; was Amy Aquino's IMDB in error?? I know her, personally, I have worked with her, she is an experienced, respected and active major actress, who has run for, and won office in SAG. I know the neighborhood, too... this area is not widely separated, individual estates... how would you feel if something noisy was going on 14 hours a day, and you were told you couldn't even park at your house, but had to drive away, and wait for a ride from the nuisance folks?? not just for a day, but for a couple weeks. oh, and the crew is continuously tramping on your lawn, ir maybe "crafty" has just set up in front of your house?? oops, "you can't leave for work, we're getting ready to roll... oh, and turn your TV down... your yard persons can't work this week...we have the parking permitted for tomorrow, so you can't park here today!!" how about if the production folks lied to you when they were collecting the needed approval signatures and told you that it was a "small independent film" and was being made for entry into film festivals -I was told that by New Line's (Time-Warner!) "American History X" years back. How about the time I stopped someone parking, in violation of the permit restrictions, and found out it was the Location Manager, who had secured the permits?? Then there was the time the Drivers kept the A/C's in the motorhomes running all night, right outside my windows, so the actors would be comfy in the morning... My point is that film companies in your neighborhood can be a Royal Pain... OK, what's the "large" false and misleading problem this time?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 When I was up in SF a year or so ago for a large show we got the royal run around from the SF film dept and neighbor hood people. They really didn't want us anywhere and when would show up to our street if a local car needed to be moved the film police wouldnt do anything about it saying they didnt want to upset the neighbor hood. We were overcharged everywhere we went and given the run around. Then the SF film people ask why more productions aren't coming to SF? The SF FILM Commish is hopeless at the moment--sort of a position for well connected socialites. A few years back they had some really good people, but they were gotten rid of. The real money in SF doesn't take big-film production very seriously--ok for small stuff in certain places, very not ok otherwise (this does not extend to the convention biz, which pretty much gets what it wants from city gov't.). Now Oakland on the other hand is VERY welcoming, cops are cooperative, people not so shirty and easier to get along with--SHOOT EAST BAY!! Philip Perkins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Ragon Posted May 2, 2008 Report Share Posted May 2, 2008 OK, what was false and or misleading in this article from Biz friendly "The Hollywood Reporter"?? OK, perhaps misleading is too strong of a word. The article DOES NOT mention the fact (and we all know this) that there are professional complainers. Professional complainers are people that know they can make money off complaining to production companies. I've even heard stories of people trying to disrupt shoots in order to make money from this. Also, the article ends up saying that this lady was paid off in an undisclosed amount.. what a whore. But seriously, I try my best to be on my best behaviour while at a location. Once the DP was blocking a driveway when the neighbor wanted to get out. It was 3 guys going to the beach, and they were really pissed. Seeing this, I ran over to them, and tried to sweet talk them because I knew that our crew was in the wrong here blocking the guys driveway. I offered them some sodas, and ran to go get them. When I came back, these guys were so nice and actually thanked me.. I saw there attitude total change when I got them the sodas from the craft tables, and this bought me some time while I got the truck moved out of their way. It's the small stuff sometimes. -Richard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FSBELLA Posted May 2, 2008 Report Share Posted May 2, 2008 It happens all the time, location managers have petty cash just for this purpose. to pay off tenants or "noisy" neighbors" I used to deal with a lot on indie films, gardners, home owners playing there music or tv well above normal levels. side note- one of my 1st ad gigs was in westlake village, we were shooting in a very nice upscale area at a mini-mansion. and right when we were about to roll the 1st take at 9:00 am, a garage rock band starts jamming across the streets. the p.a. cant make them stop, so I go over there and at 1st they are very defiant and not willing to stop "rehearsing". I told them I understand why they are there and explained to them why we are here and invited them over and had them watch the scene, show them craft service etc. and they were real quite for the rest of the day. at the end of the night when we wrapped, I noticed a few members of the garage band, were actually helping the art dept wrap out. side note pt 2- I worked all day on a film and get home late to the huge "circus, or carnival" that can sometimes be confused as a film set. they are right outside my bedroom and livingroom windows. (very surreal) I just wrapped fantasy land and now I am in it. apparently they had the building manager payed off and he did not post a notice or notify any tenants (12) including me. all the tenants were very upset and some we playing music loud with there hands out. I was just watching it all in a daze from my 2nd floor window, then a knock at the door, without saying anything or asking anything the location manager handed me a $100 bill and the filming notice of approval from the owner and manager of the building and quickly went to the next door and the next, until he went to all the tenants, just to make sure there would be no noise for the rest of there shoot time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted May 2, 2008 Report Share Posted May 2, 2008 "OK, perhaps misleading is too strong of a word. " OK, perhaps misleading, and false, are completely inappropriate words... "The article DOES NOT mention the fact (and we all know this) that there are professional complainers. Professional complainers are people that know they can make money off complaining to production companies. I've even heard stories of people trying to disrupt shoots in order to make money from this. Also, the article ends up saying that this lady was paid off in an undisclosed amount.. what a whore." OK, the article was not meant to be a thesis on the topic, just a report in an industry publication on an industry issue; I found it valid, complete, and relevant. Sure there are "opportunists", you call them Professional Complainers, who milk a location situation, but professional productions are used to dealing with them, and deal with them they must. Actually there are some laws in SoCal that somewhat protect productions from flagrant "blackmail" by such opportunists. The folks in the article came nowhere close to being such opportunists, and you note the article pointed out that "The Lady" had been offered compensation, and that she finally accepted compensation (this fact goes to your charge of poor, or misleading reportage, the lady was even quoted regarding her acceptance of a payment of an undisclosed amount). Besides, there were others from the neighborhood, unhappy about the situation, who were also mentioned in the article. I think the point of the neighbors, and the article, was that the particular neighborhood had been over used by the industry which is what led to the discontent; also perhaps LAFilm, the permitting agency's lack of sensitivity to the residents concerns in granting so many permits for the same place. LA Film's financial incentive for granting permits was mentioned, too... BTW, this is how it all goes back to Crew's OP in this thread: certain areas get over used to the point of being abused by the Biz... The good thing here, is the stories now being added about "getting more flies with honey..." (another quote of the day, perhaps??) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.png.279748a58a2b862b7aa5f3b84126e232.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.