This is a working street.
Alex Lloyd Gross
Has anyone ever dealt with movies being shot in your town. Everyone goes
bonkers when Hollywood comes to town.
Up Close & Personal was filmed here. I had to SNEAK into Holmesberg prison
to get the photo. The PR people would cooperate enopugh to tell you to stay
away .
A guy in LA told me they have a "Working Street" and you can't shoot there.
I find that very hard to beleive, I would let them try and confiscate my
film and the lawyers would go to work. Yes I can afford a suit in THAT type
of context.
Let me comeinto your town, close down streets, disrupt traffic, take
valuable parking away and when the media comes to watch I'll tell'em it's a
closed set.
That'll work, yeah right.
However, when a television movie Streets of Angles was filmed here, they
allowed us right into the area and requested we not shoot the actual takes.
No problem. They get GREAT coverage.
Alex Lloyd Gross
News Gleaner- Phila>
Tony M. Price
Alex,
I shot on the set of the movies Renegades with Lou Diamond Phillips quite a
few years ago and the PR people were totally open to letting us shoot there,
providing 1) we did not use motor drives - they said the sound equipment
would pick up the noise during filming and 2) that we stay for the lunch
break to meet with the cast and crew and maybe give the film some publicity -
no problem there.
Tony Price
Desert Dispatch
Barstow, CA
Eric Jones
When I lived back in MD we had one of Tom Clancey's movies being made at the
Navel Academy (please forgive me I forgot the title!!) there in Annapolis. They
had pretty much the same policy. No shot of actual takes. But everyone was
invited to take pictures of anything they wanted and even at certain times of
the day when the shooting was slow people were allowed to come on set. This
group included some journalist and a lot of viewers. It was a fun day and that
night ch4 covered the day's events!
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|Eric Jones jon...@primenet.com |
| http://www.primenet.com/~ejones |
| U of AZ student and Freelance Photographer |
|The Views here are not necessarily those of others and |
| sometimes they aren't even mine! |
-------------------------------------------------------
Stacy Walsh~Rosenstock
Here in NYC someone is always filming something - movies, tv shows,
commercials etc.
And EVERYONE hates it - except maybe the paparazzi and the tourists.
The crews take over the entire area and have the cars towed away. No one
can walk into or leave the buildings until it's all clear. You can't even
look out of a window without their approval. Sometime back, they did a Roy
Rodgers commercial down the street from me even though we didn't have any
Roy Rodgers in lower Manhattan.
Despite all of that, I did shoot a few scenes of GodFather III with Francis
Ford Capola directing on the set of the Italian Street Festival.
That was years ago but I still enjoy watching those parts on video.
Stacy
stacy's home journal.... over one million bytes served
http://www.interport.net/~sr
Robin Loznak
While I worked at a small paper on the Oregon coast several films were
shot in our area. The film companies often used public parks, beaches and
scenic areas. When we found out about their filming schedules (which was
not very easy) I would generally just show up and shoot. The movie people
tended to get extremely testy, but I generally stood my ground and got the
shots I wanted. In one case, the director of Point Break said I could stay
and shoot because if she caused a scene getting me kicked off the set
Patrick Swazey (sp?) would notice and have a fit, which would delay the
filming schedule. The flack for Free Willy threatened to black-list me from
all Warner Brothers sets when I took a picture of an actor smoking a
cigarette. On the closed set of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie I was
told not to shoot the turtle actors with their puppet heads off. Instead I
shot the robotic heads without the actors inside and the film company
still got pissed off.
All of the movies had official "press days" when video crews from
Inside Edition and others would be invited onto the set. We at the local
paper were always sure to get in on these days. It was always very photo
friendly on the set when the big guns were in town. We also had a reporter
who liked writing stories about the movie making process. The flacks for
the movie companies liked her so we often got invited on the sets to do
stories about the magic of a robot killer whale or what it takes to convert
the main street of a small Oregon town into New York City. Apparently you
need yellow taxi cabs, garbage, graffiti, and several bus loads of African
Americans.
It was always fun trying to outsmart the movie crews and get photos
from the sets. It was also aggravating when the city officials would
"lease" a huge section of the city to a movie company and post cops at road
blocks to keep out the press and tax paying citizens. The city fathers just
kept reminding everyone how much money was being added to the local economy
to keep every one calm. Alas, movie companies are no longer using
northwest Oregon so much because the Canadian dollar has dropped in value
and it is much cheaper to film in British Columbia if you're looking for a
northwesty feel.
Robin Loznak
Freelance
Portland. Ore.
J. Gurner
>Has anyone ever dealt with movies being shot in your town. Everyone goes
>bonkers when Hollywood comes to town.
"Heart of Dixie" was being filmed around north Mississippi and I signed up
as an extra because I wanted to shoot Hollywood at work. I was particularly
interested in a recreation of the Elvis hometown concert planned for Tupelo.
I knew that I couldn't get away with shooting normally on the set, so I
loaded up a 1950's Agfa Karet 35mm rangefinder and told the wardrobe people
that the camera fit the times.
Michael St. Gerrard (sp?) was cast as Elvis (he later played Elvis in the TV
series). I got four pages in the regional magazine and never heard a peep
out of the movie people. By the way, you can rent the movie...but it will
smell up your VCR.
Jack Gurner
Alex Lloyd Gross
>out of the movie people. By the way, you can rent the movie...but it will
>smell up your VCR.
>
>Jack Gurner
>
I was an extra in Rocky5. That was great. They told me to go to ringside. I
told them I was press ( for real and had real film in the camera). They told
me to take some excellent photos. I did, and they went worldwide.
Alex Lloyd Gross
News Gleaner Phila
Mike Harmon
Alex, Outbreak was filmed in the town of Ferndale, Calif. and other cities
and towns near there. Some of the local news crews and still photogs were ask
to be be in the movie to make it look real. Of those that did this one of the
reporters works at Humboldt State Univ. now at the radio station on campus.
As far as shooting motor drives where not a problem nor was access to the
set.
Mike Harmon
Freelancing the only way to go.
Alex Lloyd Gross
I guess it depends on the movie and the people involved with the production.
Up Close & Personal was difficult, Street of Angles was fun. Rocky 5 was
fun, trading Places was okay. Outbreak was a pretty good movie, too. What
was your friend wearing, did he make it to the screen, did they pay him etc etc.
Alex Loyd gross
News Gleaner Phila
Steven E. Frischling
The last movie set I shot cost me a cut over my eye from Huge Grant. He was
filming whatever that movie that is out now with him and Gene Hackman.
I was informed that if Huge could see the lens I was to close and I would be
arrested, come on this is NYC, what the %$#& were they thinking? The film
crew had effectivly the closed 6th Ave and 23rd Street (no small feet in
Manhattan). The "media relations" person had stated he had a problem the day
before and today did not want to see the press, so he tried to have myself
and the other photogs thrown off the street, the DCPI (Police person in
charge) laughed at the film crew's request. As photographers do a few of us
waited by his tour bus to shoot Huge Grant one photog ducked, I was dumb and
caught and umbrella just over my eye.
This was not a fun experience. Personally I would not be at a movie set
unless I was assigned, it is to much hassle, to many films being filmed in
NYC, to many pain in the @$$ actors, and thier are better freelance gigs to
cover.
Just my $0.02
Steven E. Frischling
Freelance News Photographer
1(800)66205306
Jim Welch
At 05:13 pm 9/7/96 -0400, you wrote:
>Has anyone ever dealt with movies being shot in your town. Everyone goes
>bonkers when Hollywood comes to town.
>Let me comeinto your town, close down streets, disrupt traffic, take
>valuable parking away and when the media comes to watch I'll tell'em it's a
>closed set.
>
My personal favorite is when they make life difficult to shoot from what
truly is an open public access with a long lens with no avail. The they
chastise you for shooting in a sneeky manner when the whole senerio would
have never happened without some anal retentive star having an ego fit in
the first place. The kicker is later when you go to the nearest 1 hour photo
store and see some old lady with up close photos of the reluctant star.
*****************************************************************
Mari Darr
Slidell Sentry-News
Slidell, LA
dog...@communique.net
-When you come to the light at the end of the tunnel, go
two steps further and that is where the truth lies.
*******************************************************************
George W. James, Jr.
To did you file both criminal and civel charges and are you now retired?
Alex Lloyd Gross
>Just my $0.02
>
>Steven E. Frischling
>Freelance News Photographer
>1(800)66205306
>
whack you over the head??? Was this an accident that could not have been
avoided.
If this was anything but an accident ( hey they do happen) you should sue
Huge Grant. Of course this will never ever make it to court, but you will
see a settlement. If we give you $500.00 will you go away?" etc. Then you'll
have a hell of a lot more than .02.
Seriously, sue the bastard if he screwed with you first. If if was not for
people like you putting his ugly whore buying a$$ in the newspaper, there
would be no people seeing his movies. that means no million dollar payday.
Alex Lloyd gross
News Gleaner- Phila
Stacy Walsh~Rosenstock
At 2:34 PM 9/12/96, Alex Lloyd Gross wrote:
>> Steven, You left me unclear about this incident. Did someone deliberatly
>whack you over the head??? Was this an accident that could not have been
>avoided.
> If this was anything but an accident ( hey they do happen) you should sue
>Huge Grant. Of course this will never ever make it to court, but you will
>see a settlement. If we give you $500.00 will you go away?" etc. Then you'll
>have a hell of a lot more than .02.
> Seriously, sue the bastard if he screwed with you first. If if was not for
>people like you putting his ugly whore buying a$$ in the newspaper, there
>would be no people seeing his movies. that means no million dollar payday.
Alex,
One of the current problems with photographing celebrities is that a number
of photgraphers have brought suit when they were "assaulted." Paparazzi
have even charged each other with assault and later called the celebrities
into court as a witness.
Celebrities often claim the paparazzi goated them into it just to get
exclusive shots. Photogaphers claim they were totally within their rights.
Either way, such confrontations and law suits aren't going benefit media as
a whole - only the individual who gets a large setlement. It's far better
for photographers to simply get the shots in the least confrontational
manner thats possile, especially if you expect to continue shooting this
kind of stuff.
Stacy
Steven E. Frischling
Alex,
I am fairly sure that when he grumbled and pushed his umbrella into my head
it was deliberate, he had to lower the umbrella about 4 inches to do so.
Grant is somewhat knows for being an @$$#@!* with photographers on the set.
I feel that if I had tried to sue Grant I would have been persived most
likley as a money grubbing paparazzi rather than a stringer who took the
assignment he was dealt that day. Despite my somewhat over anxious ego that
comes accross online I am not a glory hunter, yes I do have a big mouth
though, but I do not want to come off as a person who wants to be in the
tabloid , or use a bad incident for financial gains. In NYC the "working
press" often get lumped with the papazarri when shooting movie sets and the
job is hard enough as it is, if a photographer sued a star for something
that could have been avoided if Grant was in a better mood (or not just been
caught with hooker a few weeks before in Hollywood) then the shooting areas
become more restricted causing a harder job for other photographers.
The Celebrities often claim that the photographer provoked them into their
actions, so they see thier actions as justified, this makes photojournalists
look really bad in the eye of the public who often side with the celebrity,
never mind that fact they just injured a photographer. As for me, I was
standing their out of his way, just got a bad break. Besides I cover violent
situations mostly , no biggie on the scar list :-)
I got my $110 for my time, a few rolls of film, and a assignment later than
evening, I was pissed, but ready to forget it , put on a band-aid and go back
to work.
Steven E. Frischling
Freelance News Photographer
"I'm broke, but I'm happy"