Not On Location, Please

As someone who — in a fit of frustration after part of a sidewalk was closed — actually used the words “you guys are a pain in the ass” to some hapless movie set intern, I wholeheartedly agree with the New York Press here:

In one of his first acts of 2005, Mayor Bloomberg signed into law a five percent tax break for television and movie productions that film in New York City. This is in addition to the 10 percent tax break the governor began offering last summer, all in an effort to lure the film industry back to town.

Over the past several years, the cost of location shooting in NYC has become so prohibitive that most production companies had taken their business elsewhere—often filming in Toronto, which has acted as New York’s body double in countless movies and tv shows. That exodus also took with it millions of dollars in easy revenue.

“New York City is the greatest film set in the world,” the mayor said as he announced the offer, and we have absolutely no argument with that. We love seeing footage of old New York from different eras in films like The Naked City, Sweet Smell of Success and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. Likewise, we understand that future generations of filmgoers will have a similar nostalgic interest in seeing what the NYC of the early 21st century actually looked and sounded like.

We also appreciate the filmmakers’ desire to capture that authentic New York vibe, which is something that can’t be reproduced anywhere else. Plus there’s no denying that over time, the film industry would bring more money into the city than those goddamned Olympics ever could.

We understand all those things, and they’re all valid reasons for making location shooting in the city much cheaper and easier.

But you know what? We still find location shoots an enormous pain in the ass, and we wish they’d stay up in Toronto.