Remember when I wrote my post "Is Downtown LA an Episodic TV Show?" and my answer was YES. Well, it is also a movie set. BIG TIME. The film shoots seem to be everywhere these days. If you don't watch out you will electrocute yourself on a cable, get bumped in the head by a swinging camera, or mistakenly become an extra.
Filming is just a part of life for downtowners.
But......there are limits my friends, limits. And I will gladly explain how I finally reached MY LIMIT a few nights ago. Don't get me wrong - most of the time, I like the fact that there is filming here. It adds color. Excitement. Gorgeous crew guys. The smell of catering trucks.
But, back to the but part...I will set the scene for you. I was working on my laptop in my loft about 9pm - fairly late for me. Sipping a glass of vino in my pink PJ's with the black dots. Minding my own business with my window shades up when wham, bam, thank you ma'am - the spotlight was on me.
Now I want you to picture this: any thriller movie, let's say The Great Escape - where the captain takes this really bright light and shines it on the prison guy to see if he escaped.
Well, I was the prison guy. In my 4th floor loft. In my pink pajamas with the black dots. With no where to go. Boy, was I mad. I looked out my windows and this is what I saw. A HUGE CRANE - maybe about 200 feet high, with a humongous glowing light on the end, with a movie crew operating it on Broadway.
I was trapped. In my own home. I couldn't scream, or yell obscenities at them (that they could hear anyway). And to add insult to injury, I was lit up like a Christmas tree....for the world to see. All in the name of a "background shot," that makes mega-bucks for the city.
So, I had to close my blinds and pout and figure out how I could meet the director or producer and give he/her/it a piece of my mind.
Luck struck the next morning in Joe's parking lot next to my building. All the Star Wagons for the film company were still there, as were the wardrobe trucks, and security guards, and film crew. and as big as day in front of the catering truck was this sign for the movie shoot, Dinner For Schmucks.
My prayers were answered.
I didn't need to talk to the director. Or the producer. Or the executive producer. Or the film permit guy. I knew then that this film was going straight to DVD with a name like that - and it only goes to show you, that a schmuck is a schmuck is a schmuck.
I rest my case.
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