Sometimes, Rent Is Not Free

Ha ha ha. It seems like news that the movie version of Rent would be filming in San Francisco for free at their manmade island, Treasure Island, has some people angry. In a rent deal that would make the savviest rent-controlled apartment dwelling New Yorker envious, SF's Film Commission is subtracting the cost various capital improvements to the Treasure Island building from its $12,000 rent. But now Treasure Island has cold feet, with its director appearing on site, demanding that work stop and a roofer be arrested...it's all very public. Anyway, Gothamist is debating whether to call it the "Columbus Curse" or "Revenge of the Real East Village," but if this deal falls through, Gothamist will wait for news from Torontoist that Rent scouts have been in their neck of the woods.

Those crazy kids at SFist have drafted a letter to SF Mayor Gavin Newsome to remain committed (or something) to film production. NYC's plan to lure filmmakers to the five boroughs includes various tax credits, plus help in marketing, a special "Made in NY" logo, and other production incentives.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in Arts & Entertainment on November 24, 2004 12:08 PM

Comments [rss]

uncle fluffy

Paul, why are you posting the same exact lie to every site that will let you?

This is sad. Spammers should not be supported.

Do a search via google and you will see that paul himself has posted the above myth that he is a character in RENT. He did this obviously to try to get people to follow the links in his post and buy things from him.

Don't believe the myth; don't fall for the hype. Don't support spammers like Garrin

none

Paul Garrin is someone that should not be supported. His history of cooptation of community movements; his desire to profit off others activism is terrible.

He also is rumored to be rather violent to those that disagree with his politics. Stay away.

I think that there are others in the lower east side that were also models for characters in rent. None of them as lothesome as Mr Garrin

dziga

There is a guy in real life whom the character in RENT named "Mark" is based on --his name is Paul Garrin, who among other things is known for breaking the story with his video of the infamous Tompkins Square Park Police Riot that took place in 1988 in the East Village, one of the events that inspired Jonathan Larson, who lived nearby on Avenue A, to author his play "RENT".

Paul Garrin became known as the "Man with a Video Camera", and could be seen carrying his video camera with him everywhere, often finding himself videotaping the police and the many riots that went down in the East Village during the 80's and early 90's. more about Paul Garrin: http://pg.mediafilter.org

see his famous clip "Man with a Video Camera": rtsp://stream.freethe.net/manw... or support him by buying his videotape "By Any Means Necessary" which chronicles the housing struggles in the East Village between 1988-1991 that inspired the story behind RENT. http://shadowshop.com go there and click on "video" (or "tapes). You can view a sample clip there, and order the video online.

Jackson West

To be accurate, the letter was drafted by one Sean House of the Bay Area Film Alliance and forwarded to us by an anonymous tipster with the San Francisco chapter of the Indieclub.

We're currently trying to get some straight answers from the Mayor's press office. For those interested in following the story from affar, J.K. Dineen from the San Francisco Examiner should have an article on the meeting that went down yesterday.

http://www.sfexaminer.com/