Shoot or Don't Shoot

I came home from Chicago in the middle of a kerfuffle. It seems that a number of filming notices had been left on our door. The problem is they were all for one house down the street. The timing was such that for the next few weeks, there would be almost continuous productions going on.

Having a location shoot on your street means that the street will be blocked up by trucks and crew people walking around.  Most shoots go from early morning to about ten, but the production company wanted some days with twenty four hour access and others where it would go on until three our four in the morning.,

The production after that one was only for a couple of days and was from a major studio, which means more trucks, but more professional behavior.

Needless to say, the neighbors weren't happy.  Particularly since it appears who ever owns this house doesn't really live there and is trying to turn it into a cash cow at the neighborhood's expense.

It seems that the major studio production had no idea there had been so much activity here in such a span of time.  They came to our door and were interested in renting our yard for food service. If you can't beat them, join, right.  So we agreed.

And then it all changed.  Now it seems the major studio may not get a permit for their shoot.  It also looks like the people who give permits will put some sort of moratorium on our street which means no more shooting for quite a while.

So it looks like Christina Applegate won't be  having dinner in our yard. I am a little disappointed at that since I thought it might give me some plot ideas for the next Crochet Mystery.  Like everybody gets up from dinner and there's one person left behind who is dead.

In the midst of all this we got another filming notice for the house behind us.  They rent their house out around once a month for productions.  It seems like most are for commercials and other than hearing someone yell "action" we aren't much bothered.  Still, other neighbors are.

In August the SWAT show filmed around the corner.  I watched them unload the SWAT truck in front of our house.  I didn't see Shemar Moore wandering around in his uniform or any actors.  During the shoot there were big trucks parked n front of our house and for a day it was difficult to pull out of our driveway.  The crew was very nice and helped direct us out.   A day like that isn't bad, but all the stuff going on down the street is a different story. 

Last night when we turned on our street, a van ferrying crew and actors almost hit us.  It was dark and hard to see the people wandering up and down the street between the trucks and the location.  They seemed to have the attitude that the street was theirs and paid no attention to traffic.

I am all  for helping to keep filming in L.A. and I don't mind it occasionally on our street.  Just not all the time..