Filming Fades to Black in South Williamsburg

I work in film and the crews are all new yorkers, they don't pay to bring in crews from LA or other far off places. We do get our lunch from a catering truck but guess where the caterers are from.

Please be kind to the P.A.s they get paid almost nothing and work an average 14 hour day.

my SO works in film and even he is over the disrespect and unprofessionalism from The Unusuals, Gossip Girl et al. The lunch trucks come from the Bronx or Queens. Definitely NOT from the neighborhood. As previously stated, I think we all know the PAs are not the problem. I'm just happy to have some relief. Try living with this crap for months on end, with your apartment as the epicenter and have to clean up their trash.

there's no reply to that. the small business guy get's screwed out of a day's worth of potential customers.

People will avoid that block. how bout helping out locally?

the stores and restaurants are there, the residents are right there. not some connected community non profit org or connected catholic church or someone who has the mayor's ear on getting them some free movie passes.

South Williamsburg = south of the bridge where tha Hasidim live.

This area is the "South Side" subneighborhood of Williamsburg. Come on, Gothamist. You are the worst at knowing anything about where neighborhoods are sometimes...

All those cameras, lights, trucks, cables and sundry equipment they use; must be a heck of a carbon footprint there. This is why I laugh at these idiot show-biz hypocrites when they pontificate about the environment.

you are so smart! don't limit yourself to the confines of the gothamist comment section, ides. i say go for president of your respective borough. or, dare i say, mayor?

The parking situation is the worst. How about a credit to park in a local garage, instead of being forced to search for a spot miles from your home?

alternatively, you could just leave your car where it is and force them to move it. it's not a real tow. they just tow it to the nearest legal spot. one of the low level (read: "easily accessible on the street") crew members will know exactly where it went.

That'd work in a perfect world, but I'd be worried that the job would be somehow fucked up. (For the record, it's not my car! I'd get so sick of the hassle, or forget where I parked it.)

I never complained about the PA's. just the sweet deal the state and city are giving to this industry.

10K is not a lot of workers, that can easily be absorbed in LA. and why is it I always see the location trucks from down south? are they local workers living locally? they're Union right? no touchee them. they got theirs, screw you locals.

People who shoot in NYC do so because they want to shoot in NYC.

The tax break makes us competitive enough to keep them here.

Why drive an industry away?

There's no doubt that the city benefits.

The trucks are mostly Haddad's, because they're the biggest and the best provider of support trucks.

The trailers and campers most people see are from a vendor in Pittsburgh or a vendor in Atlanta. There is nobody else doing this kind of business outside of these two and California. And they both either rent parking lots or own parking lots for their vehicles in the NYC area. NYC theatrical teamsters travel to their locations to bring them back to NYC for use on a film. Though it does happen once in a while, usually no one comes with the campers to replace NYC labor.

So I guess those of us who support ourselves by working in the film industry (over 10,000 of us in NYC, union and non-union) don't matter? Our jobs don't matter? The film industry injects more money into the local economy than you probably realize.

While I agree that there are productions that are disrespectful of the places where they shoot, there are many productions that have hard working people who care about the neighborhood and about being respectful.

And don't blame the production assistants for being jerks. They're just doing what they're told to do. P.A.'s make very little money and get treated like shit by everyone. Blame their jerky bosses (Assistant Directors, Production Managers, Producers) who make way more money and actually have the power to resolve an issue with a local resident.

Also, I guess none of you actually watch TV? Your daily entertainment has to made for you before you can consume it...

I don't get entertained by watching the crap you guys put on TV anyways. All you guys do is bother the residents of the neighborhood.

except no film crews are going anywhere since your elected officials support them being there. so if you have a problem, don't take it up with the legally permited crew. take it up with the guy/girl who invited them there in the first place.

or shut up. either way!

"And don't blame the production assistants for being jerks. They're just doing what they're told to do."

So they are actually told to never say please or thank you when asking people to do something? They are told to use the most rude and disrespectful tone of voice possible?

well, based on your attitude ides, they're probably not being nice because you seem to be a dick. most PAs i know are as pleasant as possible, considering the amount of shit they take from people such as yourself.

Whenever they try to film on my block (and this is especially effective during night shoots) I place full length mirrors in all of the street-facing windows. It really fucks with their lights, etc.

Air-horns also work wonders.

I agree that this would not be so annoying if they acted like guests of the neighborhood rather than pillagers.

the only people making money are the connected.

the connected charities, the community organizers, churches. it's all who you know.

how bout giving residents a property tax rebate if a film crew invades one's block? that way everyone benefits, not the connected few.

Ya know, if they gave back yo the communities they literally TRASH while filming, it would be something different. They leave trash, relocate our cars, break noise ordinances, block bike lanes, cause accidents and are not held accountable for anything. I'm all for TV, but this free pass to literally take-over with no consequences needs to end. Also, why not set up a program, implement a fee that gets funneled into the neighborhood directly? Also, some simple manners would be nice.

Sorry but the city is just too frickin crowded for all this filming. The tax credit is a good idea that just doesn't work. It's like tourists who stand on the sidewalk blocking traffic with their jaws gaping - it doesn't mesh well with an urban business center like NYC. Also, I really don't appreciate douchey little production assistants trying to prevent me from entering my places of residence and my office because I'll interrupt their filming. Fuck their filming! Especially Gossip Girl! Why are they obsessed with my block - it's not even on the UES!

being a PA on "lock up" sucks. they don't like holding you up anymore than you like being held up. if you can't handle waiting 5 minutes, then just walk by. they can't restrain you. they're just doing their jobs, just like you're trying to get to yours.

of course, you might want to think twice before barging through because sometimes they are keeping you from getting whapped with a fireball or hit by a garbage truck. you might also cost someone their job. not like you give a fuck.

everyone's time is more important than everyone else's in this city.

I agree with this.

You can walk through the shot if you want. The PA is there to either Keep you safe, or keep the AD from chewing his head off.

If you think he is being rude then tell him. Duh. And contact the production company that is listed on the no parking signs and ask to see a permit then call the mayor's office of tv and film/video. If they are intruding or hurting your quality of life. The mayor's office makes it a point to make sure the production companies are being most respectful.

you have rights guys. Stop acting like victims.

I keep my headphones on and ignore them.

:D

Excellent point. Those snotty little dweebs with the walkie-talkies that like to mouth off to local residents have been a pet hate of mine for ages. Hollywood's Hitler Youth.

I thought Gossip Girls was all CGI.

We make them stand way out on the edge of the set for a reason.

not true. speak to the ground level residents. not the execs or the upper muckety mucks.

when a film caravan invades your neighborhood it's not good for business. speak to the small business owners. not just the deli guy who what? provides breakfest? how bout a business that's not food related? those businesses are hurting.

In most cases, the production brings in catering trucks bypassing the local establishments.

I'm just restating something one guy who said he buys breakfast for his crew from the local bodega.

so it's luxury sky box catering for the talent and bodega ham egg and cheese on a roll for the crew?

which get's to my point, they're not really helping locally. I just read a comment on the brooklyn paper stating they bring in a catering truck parked right in front of a restaurant, spewing exhaust fumes into the restaurant. how is that benefiting the true local business?

Well, if the movie industry is getting 350 mil in tax credits, shouldn't actors' and producers' salaries be capped and bonuses handed back? Welcome to the slippery slope.

350 mil != 750 bil. Thanks for playing.

As the Arabs say, "once the camel get his nose gets under the tent...."

The precedent has been set. The government is like the mafia, once they do you a "favor" no matter how big or small, they own you.

The precedent has indeed been set. The next time there's a $700b bailout, pay provisions will likely be included.

What difference does the amount of money have to do with it? The people at the top of the field whether it's actors, writers, directors or producers make a lot more than the crew. If those people cared so much about the little guy they wouldn't run off to Canada so their own salaries could be preserved.

The amount of money has everything to do with it. The size of the bank bailout was unprecedented, and because of that, the limits on pay and bonuses were imposed.

A $350 million tax credit, regardless of the merits (or lack thereof), is not unusual. So why then should extremely unusual pay limitations be applied?

So who gets to decide which are the small and acceptable bailouts? You?

The appropriate legislature, obviously. What a stupid question.

What a stupid answer.

Yeah, stating the fact that we live in a representative democracy is so stupid...

I never claimed that I was or should be the arbiter of bailout size (or anything else, for that matter). But I guess it was easier to respond with a stupid rejoinder that it was to type "Oh, that makes sense."

Yeah, stating the fact that we live in a representative democracy is so stupid...

It is when it does not answer the question.

How does it not answer the question?

Q: Who gets to decide which are the small and acceptable bailouts?

A: The legislature.

If you don't like the system, that's fine, but cynicism doesn't change the reality.