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Some follow-up news about last weekend’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 shoot (a.k.a. “Half Shell”) and the possibility that it’ll happen again on the weekends of July 11 and 18.
A reader spoke to the TMNT2 location manager, who emailed her, “We are happy to make a donation to the block association or Hudson Street BID. Could you forward me any contact information you have so I reach out to them and process the necessary paperwork.” The takeaway here is that we should be asking for some sort of compensation for our troubles; since we don’t have a lot of block associations, my preference would be ACE.
And A.M. pointed out that those of you who don’t use social media, but still want your voice heard about the helicopter noise and street closures, can email council member Margaret Chin at chin@council.nyc.gov and Made in NY’s Cynthia López via nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mailfilmcom.html. Made in NY, also known as the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, oversees these shoots.
I sent a bunch of tweets to López, asking about the lack of notice. Here’s the reply I received from Marybeth Ihle, the organization’s press secretary and communications manager:
In response to your inquires to Commissioner López via Twitter this past weekend, the production Half Shell was filming a driving sequence on Saturday in Tribeca, which involved a helicopter capturing aerial footage and intermittent traffic holds. Safety is always our number one priority, and the helicopter on Saturday followed regulations as outlined by the FAA, NYPD, and the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. For the filming of driving sequences, there may be intermittent traffic holds or diversions by NYPD traffic agents to ensure the safety of residents, motorists, and the production team. Streets are not closed by productions, and emergency lanes are maintained at all time.
Our office works diligently to make sure on-location filming is as seamless as possible both for residents and productions. Productions are required to distribute letters to residents, merchants, and community boards at least 48 hours in advance of the shoot to notify a community that filming will be taking place. They also must post No Parking signs a minimum of 48 hours in advance. These signs list a phone number for the production so that residents can contact them directly with questions or concerns.
Also for your reference, filming permits have not yet been issued for the weekends of July 11 or 18. If future filming takes place, residents will be notified in the steps outlined above.
The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment understands the temporary inconvenience that can be caused by filming. The films and TV shows produced in New York City are also an important part of our City’s economy. The industry is made up of 130,000 hardworking New Yorkers who support themselves and their families by working behind the scenes as camera operators, production assistants, costume designers, electricians, carpenters, and many other positions.
I could rebut this point by point—a lot of streets were very much closed in Tribeca on Saturday—but instead, here’s the message that Made in NY really needs to hear: The system is broken, and that was never clearer than on Saturday. It was indefensible that we had no warning of a low-flying helicopter for two hours on a weekend morning or the closure of so many streets. There are many ways to get word out about such a thing, and flyers on the street saying “no parking” don’t even come close to doing the job. To that point, Made in NY has no excuse for not posting online a calendar of upcoming shoots. The response when I’ve asked before is that crowds might bother the crews, but while that might be true for major event films, most of the shoots we get are for TV shows and advertisements—and people who really care can find out by checking with OLV.
The issue is not whether these shoots should happen. We simply demand more notice, especially for shoots that close streets and involve stunts, helicopters, and other nuisances. And if Made in NY refuses to share its schedule of shoots, then it must insist that productions be up front about what they’re filming. (Half Shell? Come on.) Finally, there should be a Made in NY contact available at all times to handle issues that come up, instead of directing us to the location managers, who rarely answer their phones or return calls. And please don’t tell us to call 311.
As for the economic benefits, I direct you to this comment from James, quoting from a 2013 article in Capital New York:
“New York’s tax rebates for movie and TV studios are so generous that the state is actually paying them to film here, according to an analysis prepared for—but not published by—one of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s tax commissions. The 137-page addendum to the commission’s formal report asserts the Film and Television Tax Credit—which Cuomo has expanded to $420 million a year—now accounts for nearly a quarter of all business tax subsidies the state offers, and should be rolled back. […] While film has blossomed in New York—especially since the opening of Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard—the addendum notes that ‘the industry accounts for less than one percent of the state’s employment’ and ‘many of the film industry jobs are temporary.'”
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I agree donate the money to ACE(or some other worthy not-for-profit) — not to the Hudson BID — or some other corrupt government organization.
They should also allow local deliveries to take place.
They shut down my street for most of the day and made my delivery guys haul stuff from two blocks away. Not to mention I never saw them use the street once.
I like the film industry, but Tribeca is a neighborhood first, a film lot second.
I love this blog, but I really think you’re being a bit whiney about this whole thing. it wasn’t THAT bad. And in the grand scheme of things, the sustained construction noise in the neighborhood is much worse.
What exactly does advanced notice afford you? Will you leave your apartment because of a couple hours of helicopter noise?
It’s a New Yorker’s right to whine! You can’t take that away from me!
Advance notice is important not just because of the noise (and yes, I actually would leave—I have a real problem with constant, aggravating noise), but also because once you start closing off streets, you’re impacting not just residents but also businesses. Moreover, I can’t be the only one who wonders what’s going when a helicopter hovers for a long time—and fears the worst.
Again, I’m not saying the shoots shouldn’t happen. It would just be nice to feel involved and not used.
If only we had a Murray’s to complement your whine.
It’s hugely inconvenient especially on certain blocks that lazy location scouts pick over and over again. The point already made is that it’s a neighborhood first and film should be fitting in with residents not vice versa.
Please expand on how you were inconvenienced.
I’m with you Eric. The helicopter was so low and loud for so long we thought there must have been some sort of manhunt going on. Escaped criminals from upstate? We called 311 but that was a colossal waste of time. If CB1 can regulate how late bars and restaurants stay open, they should be able to regulate hours of noisy film shoots in the neighborhood as well.
Whining! You jest. If I had advance notice I would have:
1 – closed all my windows, not that it would have helped much in this instance.
2 – turned on the AC full blast hoping that would help
3 – left my building for the day
And I thought that regular helicopter noise was a nuisance. Silly me!
Perhaps the film crews getting tax breaks and other city location assistance should forgo using catering trucks from New Jersey and arrange for all catering to be done only by local restaurants within walking distance of the filming location.
James – unlike construction, film shoots are mobile, and can happen miles away from any restaurants, while their schedules often change. Arranging catering at local restaurants would be highly impractical. However, when filming in a dense neighborhood like Tribeca, productions often schedule a “walkaway lunch” when there is no caterer, and cast and crew do in fact patronize local restaurants.
And to the writer of this piece – yes, film jobs are temporary in nature, but thousands of New Yorkers make lifelong careers in production, working on many, many films and/or television shows over the years. And posting accurate notice of shoots weeks in advance is impossible – schedules change because of weather and other factors that can’t be anticipated weeks ahead. (You may note that OLV doesn’t post information about a shoot more than a day or two before a shoot.)
It can be aggravating when pedestrians are detoured, yes, but streets are rarely closed for film shoots, and are usually necessitated by safety concerns when a stunt is involved.
Again, unlike construction, the film and television business as a whole is mobile. If New York becomes an undesirable place to shoot – if it doesn’t offer tax incentives that another state, or even another country, offers – film and television shoots, and their jobs will go elsewhere, leaving thousands of New Yorkers unemployed, and causing many supporting local businesses to suffer. Production companies have no infrastructure nor do they have long-term employees to keep them permanently in New York.
So please remember, when you’re inconvenienced by a film shoot, these are your fellow New Yorkers who are working in your neighborhood, and they won’t be there long. What they’re doing is trying to make a film or television show that audiences will enjoy and that might even make you a little proud when your own small piece of NYC is immortalized on the big (or little) screen. Thanks for your patience. A shoot will never last as long as the construction on Chambers Street. Or the construction of 111 Murray…
Julie,
You’re obviously affiliated with the television and film industry so I understand your passion. But, and it’s a big but, you either haven’t read anything on this site about what happened with the Half Shell shoot or you’re willfully ignoring it.
We were not “inconvenienced by the shoot.” We were awakened early on a Saturday morning by the roar of a hovering helicopter and then subjected to the noise for over an hour. Besides the disturbance (and summer mornings in Tribeca are usually sweet because of the quiet), the length of time it hovered likely caused many to wonder if something bad was afoot. Then, midday, they shut Hudson Street and all the cross streets for several hours. It wasn’t only that pedestrians were detoured, traffic in the entire neighborhood was locked down either by the blocked streets or the ensuing traffic jam on the remaining streets. Besides the inconvenience and noise of the traffic jam there was real danger because emergency vehicles would not have been able to pass (and yes, I know the film crew would have opened Hudson Street to them, but the FDNY’s equipment on Duane Street wouldn’t have been able to get any where near there due to the traffic jam on W. Broadway, Reade, Chambers and the southern end of Greenwich.
FYI, there were none of the usual letters announcing the shoot. I haven’t seen one in years. There were the no parking signs, but that is not notice of shutting the street. Also, those signs said “6AM – all day”. Seriously? Talk about keeping your options open?
Eric’s proposal does not say we need notice weeks in advance or even a week in advance. When you put up the no parking signs there should also be notice if it’s only a parking hold for trucks and trailers or if the sidewalk or street is going to be closed for any part of the indicated hours.
Um, local businesses rarely benefit from TV & film shoots. Streets are blocked off preventing their usual foot traffic from patronizing the business. All food and other equipment is brought in, none of it is local. Why would a PA get coffee from Laughing Man when it’s free from craft services? I get your passion, but I think you’re a little delusional about who is actually benefiting from on location shoots.
Advance notice is all it takes to turn this around. If you know something is coming, you plan for it.
Here’s what we experienced:
– 7am Saturday low flying helicopters. When it persisted for 30 minutes, I assumed something was wrong. So I went to the roof, where I saw the chopper just overhead, as well as other neighborhood residents peering out of windows to figure out what was going on. If I knew in advance, I would not have been concerned. I probably would have been less annoyed as well.
– Complete closure of streets, as well as the Park. Half Shell took over Duane a few months back. This is why folks feel like the production is taking over. It feels intrusive.
-Stunts. I’m not crazy about car chase stunt filming in a residential area with a park. Again, with a stroller, I was told to move a half a block away from the filming for safety. If it’s that dangerous, it really shouldn’t happen in a residential area. There are so many places in NYC where this could have been filmed.
– Bad manners. I will also add that the Half Shell staff – or at least the folks I met – were just plain rude. I was yelled at (while with a small child in a stroller) on two different instances over the past few months because I was not moving fast enough. I was on the sidewalk, and not even in the street. When I asked to see the location manager, I was told “you’re welcome to go look for him.”
As for notice – a letter would be great. But my building received no such letter as described. We only see the signs posted that a production is filming. Which, by the way, has become a weekly, and sometimes daily instance. Half Shell wraps up and tomorrow it’s a cosmetic commercial. Then a TV show. Then fashion shoot. And then…
I am infuriated that we subsidize these people! We routinely have movie trailers park on our street (duane). They arrive at 3-4am, spend 1/2 hour backing their many monstrous rigs into parking spots with the BEEP, BEEP, BEEPING! Then, they run the engines/generators while still managing to yell over the sound! There is no respect for residents who are trying to SLEEP. As for the annoying PAs who tell me I can’t walk on a sidewalk to get to my HOME, i ignore them and just blow thru – it’s public property – and I am actually a tax payer.
I’m moving tomorrow..went by the new apt after work and when I came out (the space of an hour) the signs had gone up no parking tomorrow and orange cones all around..this was NO notice. it was after 7 and I can’t cancel the movers…wonder how many blocks away they’re going to have to park. Plus..let’s face it..this is THE FRIGGIN NINJA TURTLE MOVIE…we know it’s something that’s going to be lame and that no one over the age of 11 would want to see..so being inconvenienced by their RESHOOT is just LAME.
This may be a tempest in a teapot.
I’ll add my two cents with this: The film shoots, ( tv, movie, commercials) often disrupt my business. there is a lot of filming on my block of Duane Street, becasue of the width of the street between Hudson and Greenwich. It is difficult to get deliveries to my store AND I have to take MY deliveries to wherever we can park our van- sometimes blocks away. Often when we do park our van away from our storefront, we are ticketed! The film production people should at the very least PATRONIZE the local business like mine. they don’t! they bring their own catering/coffee trucks. They often prevent my customers from coming in while they shoot.
I’m sick and tired of it all.
The neighborhood receives no real benefit from the shoots in the neighborhood. No permit fees or taxes come back to the neighborhood — as the article points out, the City is actually paying for the shoots to occur.There is negligible local business benefit (the local deli, maybe, and that just means a longer line for those of this live and regularly work here). Our streets have been in terrible disrepair and are made worse by the movie trucks parked on the potholes, to say nothing of the inconvenience of those trucks to those who want to park or walk with relative ease on the sidewalk. (The money to pave/re-cobble the streets was almost entirely federal — a result of the water project). I’m not sure why the neighborhood tolerates the inconvenience.
The neighborhood (through Margaret Chin, the Film Commission and the Mayor’s office) should demand tax dollars spent on our streets, substantial donations from the production companies, a limit on the amount of disruptions on a given block in a given period. There is nothing that prevents residents (the people that actually live here) from disrupting these shoots with lights from their windows or noise from their apartments. After all, that is far less of a disruption than the disruption they cause us.
One comforting thought:
so many nice old Tribeca buildings are being torn down and replaced with generic developer quickie specials — soon the neighborhood won’t look enough like New York City for filmmaker’s to want to shoot here.
That’s why they already shoot in Canada, unfortunately.
Yeah….PLEASE SHOOT IN CANADA …..filming in NYC is disruptive…PERIOD!
people should read more books and watch less tv
Meh, having survived four years of the Chambers Street construction (night time, early morning, all day every day noise!) the choppers were like waves breaking in the surf. It did make me worry for a moment – can’t help that reaction given what we went through in ’01. It also was not on top of my building. If I lived just under the shoot location, I’d have been upset. I think it would be great to find a way for our community/a good cause to benefit. But, my bottom line, I’ll take chopper noise any day over jack hammers, generators, cement saws and beeping backhoes.
Right now, 10:30pm and the constant beep of a crane on Jay and Staple Street for a film shoot. Priceless. Made in NYC! Thank you! Wake up 1st Precinct.
Film shoots employ a lot of New Yorkers while they definitely create a temporary inconvenience for residents like us. The film business is one of the last industries where the product is manufactured in the United States and the US leads the world in this export. Most of the jobs created by the industry are blue collar and well paying manufacturing jobs. The guy driving that truck is highly paid and has great insurance and benefits. There are always two sides to every argument.
Everyone here makes valid points. But at the end of the day, you don’t own the streets or the sidewalks of manhattan. If you don’t like the way things are done in the city. Move. There will always be movies and tv shows shot in NYC. Its the greatest place in the world of course people want to film here. Stop complaining and just except the great city you live in.