Sites on Movies/shows shooting locations??

[GCY]

I have been in NY(lives in Queens) for 12 years now and never caught an "onset shooting" in NYC. Heck, I never really catch many(if any at all) celebrities that I recognized. I always heard about this movie/show being shot at this location or that location afterwards and always wanted to see a real shooting for once. Is there any site/s where I can get info on what movie/show is shooting at what location?

[turkishann]

dont know about any websites, but when we went on the tv and movie tour last month we went through the meatpacking district and Walt Disney were filming as we passed on the coach, I would love to know what they were filming :confused:

[MidtownGuy]

They're often filming something on my block. They were yesterday as a matter of fact.

[The Benniest]

They're often filming something on my block. They were yesterday as a matter of fact.
Ever find out what it was? :)

[brianac]

The Mayor's Office

http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/html/locations/current_nyc_productions.shtml

[The Benniest]

Very nice link Brian.

Thanks,
Ben

[GCY]

The Mayor's Office

http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/html/locations/current_nyc_productions.shtml

yea..nice link. I was looking for more of a forum with time and location of shootings.

[brianac]

The directors have plenty of problems with crowds of onlookers.

Imagine what it would be like if they released the information you are looking for.

Sometimes you can get times and dates of street or sidewalk closures but you have to find out why they are closed. Quite often the decision to shoot a scene is made at the last moment based on lighting and weather.

But, I'll keep looking, and post any info I find.

Here they are filming "You've Got Mail" outside Gray's Papaya on the Upper West Side. It's blurred because it is a capture from film.

http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z245/brianaclift/Films/YGotMailSetatGraysPapaya.jpg

[lofter1]

The film companies must post notices (usually on green or yellow paper and attached to lampposts) in the area of filming a few days in advance to warn locals that they must move their cars so trucks / vans can use the space (or so that streets can be scleared for shooting).

Other than that the info on shooting locations is not shared with the public.

[GCY]

The film companies must post notices (usually on green or yellow paper and attached to lampposts) in the area of filming a few days in advance to warn locals that they must move their cars so trucks / vans can use the space (or so that streets can be scleared for shooting).

Other than that the info on shooting locations is not shared with the public.

yea exactly.... I noticed a pink paper posted everywhere near my school(68th street Lex. AVE, Hunter College) saying Cars must be removed by Sun. 23 by 8PM for Production Warner Bros Gossip Girl. I saw this on Thursday(with is 4-5 days in advance)

I just found this site
http://www.onlocationvacations.com/index.html
not much undates though.

[Doug]

they're in Soho every other week;)

[NYatKNIGHT]

It does seem like that. My block had old-style lamposts installed for the day last week to film a scene for an upcoming movie called "New York, I Love You". Lamp posts looked great, I wish they could stay.

[AmeriKenArtist]

They're actually filming a remake of one of my all-time favorites? The Taking of the Pelham 123!?

[The Benniest]

It does seem like that. My block had old-style lamposts installed for the day last week to film a scene for an upcoming movie called "New York, I Love You". Lamp posts looked great, I wish they could stay.
While in the city, we passed the shooting of New York, I Love you twice. Around the Upper Manhattan area at the very edge of Harlem and in Central Park.

Looks like it's going to be a pretty good movie...

[brianac]

Gone With the Cash: Films Go for the Best Tax Breaks

By LISA W. FODERARO (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/lisa_w_foderaro/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: March 29, 2008

WHITE PLAINS — Martin Scorsese (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/martin_scorsese/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s crime drama “The Departed” may be a paean to the city of Boston, but a number of scenes featuring Leonardo DiCaprio (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/leonardo_dicaprio/index.html?inline=nyt-per) were shot at the county courthouse and library here. It was a surprisingly apt title, since 2007, the year “The Departed” won the Academy Award for Best Picture, was also the year that many film and television shoots departed — for Connecticut (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/connecticut/index.html?inline=nyt-geo).

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/29/nyregion/29film_650.jpgJoyce Dopkeen/The New York Times
Blue Sky Studios, the company behind “Horton Hears a Who” and “Ice Age,” is leaving White Plains for Greenwich, Conn.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/03/29/nyregion/29film02_650.jpgChristopher Capozziello for The New York Times
Connecticut offers producers a 30 percent tax credit. Above, an Indiana Jones movie being filmed in New Haven last summer.

With a proud film history dating back almost a century, to D. W. Griffith’s creation of a 28-acre production lot in Mamaroneck, Westchester County is increasingly watching production companies be lured across the border to Connecticut, which now offers them a 30 percent tax credit, compared with New York State (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/national/usstatesterritoriesandpossessions/newyork/index.html?inline=nyt-geo)’s 10 percent.

Since the Connecticut tax credit took effect in July 2006, that state has gone from playing host to the occasional film shoot (remember “Mystic Pizza”?) to attracting 66 feature films, television shows and commercials with a collective $400 million in production costs, the majority of it in the Fairfield County suburbs of New York.

At the same time, similar suburbs across the border in Westchester County have seen their film shoots shrivel. In 2006, Westchester was the setting for scenes from 14 big-budget features, as well as numerous independent films; last year, two movies were partially shot here.

And Blue Sky Studios, the company behind “Horton Hears a Who” and “Ice Age,” recently announced that it would leave downtown White Plains for Greenwich, Conn., by the end of the year. The studio, a unit of Fox Filmed Entertainment, with 300 employees, was drawn by generous digital-animation and infrastructure tax credits that Connecticut created two years ago.

“We just sat back and rested on our laurels,” said Iris Stevens, director of Westchester’s Film Office. “New York was one of the early states to create an incentive program, but then we went into cruise control and didn’t follow through. The film industry, quite frankly, has no loyalties. They’re going to go where they get the best deal, which makes perfect sense.”

Clearly caught off guard by Connecticut’s campaign for film business, state officials in New York are rushing to address the imbalance.

New York City is somewhat insulated from the changes, thanks to its iconic skyline and the fact that the city government gives production companies an additional 5 percent tax credit, but it, too, has seen a decline in film shoots. The state’s 10 percent film credit is dwarfed not only by Connecticut’s, but also by the 25 percent credit in Massachusetts and the 20 percent credit in New Jersey.

“I’m keenly aware of the competition next door — really on all sides,” said Steven Englebright, an assemblyman from Suffolk County, on Long Island, who heads the Assembly’s Tourism, Arts and Sports Development Committee. “I think Connecticut is being somewhat carnivorous toward New York. Their long-term view seems to be to build an infrastructure and make an early investment in what is going to be a long-term tug of war between our two states. They want what we have.”

It did not take long for the effects of Connecticut’s new incentives to be felt across the border, said Pat Swinney Kaufman, executive director of the New York Governor’s Office for Motion Picture and Television Development. In the 12 months before the introduction of Connecticut’s tax credit, the New York State film office received 60 applications from feature films for the incentive, with a projected total expenditure of $966 million. In the 12 months after, there were 39 applications, with a total projected budget of $215 million.

“It’s a very dramatic drop,” Ms. Kaufman said.

Not only is Connecticut attracting location shoots, but it has also encouraged the development of soundstages. Disney’s “Confessions of a Shopaholic” is now in production on a soundstage that opened last spring; construction will soon begin on six more soundstages in Norwalk.

While Connecticut is not publicly gloating, it is certainly celebrating. Economic development officials are hoping, in particular, to build on the momentum of Blue Sky’s decision to relocate. “We’re real excited,” said Joan McDonald, commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Economic and Community Development. “People call it digital animation, but they’re high-tech jobs, and they’re high-tech jobs that young people like. There’s a real energy.”

None of this has escaped the notice of Mr. Englebright’s colleagues in the New York Legislature, but with the state facing an April 1 deadline for a budget — and a projected $4.6 billion shortfall — and the capital still recovering from Gov. Eliot Spitzer (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/eliot_l_spitzer/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s abrupt resignation, the film tax credit’s fate is unclear.

In his proposed budget, Mr. Spitzer had called for raising the tax credit to 15 percent and applying it to many more expenses than allowed under the current one.

The Spitzer proposal is similar to one now being hashed out in the Senate, while the Assembly wants to match Connecticut’s 30 percent, but would continue to limit the kinds of expenses covered. Gov. David A. Paterson (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/david_a_paterson/index.html?inline=nyt-per) is now evaluating all three versions, Ms. Kaufman said.

The Assembly version would restrict the types of expenses the credit covers — what is known in the industry as “below the line” costs, like crews’ wages, wardrobe, props, catering, location fees and equipment rentals. In New York, “above the line” costs — money paid for the script, for example, as well as wages for writers, directors, producers and most actors — are not currently covered, while they are in Connecticut.

More than half the states now offer some type of film tax incentive, but the fine print can vary widely. In Mississippi, for instance, there is a 20 percent to 30 percent tax rebate, depending on the amount of local spending, along with a 10 percent rebate on payroll for nonresidents. In New Mexico, there is a 25 percent tax rebate on all production expenditures, as well as a 50 percent wage reimbursement for on-the-job training of residents in advanced crew positions. And Oregon gives production companies, among other things, 20 percent back on all goods and services from state vendors and does not charge a fee to film in state parks.

But some have begun to question the value of these incentives. In Rhode Island, the Senate finance committee considered a proposal this month to cap the state’s 25 percent film and television credit at $10 million a year (it is projected to cost the state $18.6 million in lost revenue).

In Massachusetts, tax watchdogs have also raised doubts. Barbara Anderson, executive director of the Center for Limited Taxation, recently told The Boston Globe, “This is about politicians rubbing elbows with Hollywood celebrities.”

Some in the film industry say New York remains more attractive than Connecticut once producers factor in commuting time for New York-based crew and cast members, as well as the possibility of putting them in hotels, especially if the shoot is deep into the state.

“If you make all the movies in Greenwich or Norwalk, you’re going to run out of locations pretty quickly,” said Ezra Swerdlow, a longtime producer based in New York who was executive producer of the Disney film “Enchanted.”

“Even though the New York credit is a little smaller,” he said, “it’s not eaten up by the amount of people you have to bring in.”

“The good news is that Connecticut could spur the New York credit higher,” he added. “We don’t see it as a death struggle between the two states so much as the creation of more opportunities.”

One of the first to sound the alarm over the loss of shoots in New York was William J. Ryan, chairman of Westchester County’s Board of Legislators. As the second vice president of the New York State Association of Counties, he persuaded the association’s board to pass a unanimous resolution last fall urging the state to increase the tax credit.

Mr. Ryan said that film and television production in the state had a far-ranging effect on local businesses, including caterers, hardware stores, hotels and restaurants. Official estimates place the overall economic benefit from film and television production in New York State between $8 billion and $12 billion.

“It’s definitely dried up over the past 15 to 18 months,” said Craig Pellis, owner of Silver Spoon Catering in Mount Kisco, referring to orders from filmmakers. “It was always a piece of the business. It was exciting when we had a chance to see one of the stars.”

Steve Kirshoff, whose special-effects company KFX in Port Chester, N.Y., is on the border of Connecticut and New York, said he was feeling the pull of Connecticut. “In the last year and a half we’ve had a piece of six movies shot in Connecticut,” he said. “Westchester is where my shop happens to be, but you never work in Westchester.”

Mr. Ryan, the county legislator, said he thought the tax credit had “to be 30 percent just so we can compete.”

“If you need the Empire State Building (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/e/empire_state_building/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier), you can’t very well say, ‘I’ll go to Connecticut,’ ” he noted. “But if you need the countryside or suburbia or a quaint little village, there are a number of places you can go in the Northeast.”

Brian A. Keane, chief operating officer of Blue Sky Studios, said he had searched the region for office space that would allow his young staff, which includes oil painters and physicists, to work together on a single floor with high ceilings, rather than the three floors it now occupies here in White Plains.

In Greenwich, Blue Sky will take over a single floor (of 105,000 square feet) in a building on 150 acres with jogging trails and bike paths; the company is even planning to build a basketball court for its employees.

“I’m a born and bred New Yorker, and I live in New York,” said Mr. Keane, whose “Horton” movie, now in theaters, is expected to exceed $100 million in sales this weekend. “We did an extraordinary amount of due diligence. It came down to the timing, the significance and serenity of the location and the tax credit. The tax credit was clearly an enticement.”

Copyright 2008 The New York Times.

[adchick82]

They're shooting something on 14th between 8th and 9th today if anyone is dying to go check it out ;) Yellow signs went up yesterday, and the street was lined with trucks and trailers by 6AM today.

Actually, with an easy google search, I'm going to guess it's Gossip Girl based on this list of shooting locations (see #6):

http://www.gossipgirl.tv/news-articles/news-articles/gossip-girl-shooting-locations-exposed-with-photos.html

[ALAMOUDI]

No comment
Thank you my dear brother on the subject wonderful

[NYatKNIGHT]

Movie season is in full swing. Saw Clive Owen shooting a scene on 5th Ave near Lord and Taylor on Sunday - big, long scene taking the whole block. Julia Roberts in pic too. There are so many movies being shot around the Village and Soho, among other places, it is almost daily. Tomorrow the 3rd movie in the last month is being shot on my block alone (sign says Julia Julia). Something huge was being filmed on Grove Street last Sat. - trucks and trailers covered several blocks. Sort of ruined the tranquility of a nice weekend day in the Village.

[The Benniest]

The movie that Clive Owen and Julia Roberts seem to be filming at the moment is Duplicity (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135487/), scheduled to open in March of 2009.

When I was in NYC, we saw a shooting for New York, I Love You and like you said NYatKNIGHT, trailers and film crews covered both Central Park and the UWS. Kind of disappointing but quite cool to see what goes on behind-the-scenes of a movie. Maybe that's the movie you were talking about seeing in the Village these past couple of days. :confused:

-ben

[lofter1]

"Entourage" is shooting something big tonight outside the Ziegfeld Theater (W. 54th between Sixth <> Seventh).

Earlier today a big crew was setting up a "premiere" type thing -- took o=up all of the sidewalk and plaza there.

[Triborough]

It is a combination of dumb luck and noticing the posted no parking signs which leads to the discovery of filming locations. I see the signs, some for something upcoming, some for something recently finished.

For example, Law & Order films quite often in the area between 60 Centre Street and City Hall. I have actually stumbled upon them filming twice, once inside the Surrogate Court building (just saw the trailers on Chambers Street) and once (after seeing the trailers on Chambers Street) filming on the steps of the New York County Supreme Court building. I am hoping one day to catch the Elk Street entrance of the Surrogate Court building done up as the 27th Precinct. I am just not down there often enough.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3140/2801397123_c041709f0e.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/triborough/2801397123/)


I have stumbled onto Rescue Me a few times either setting up for later or doing some inside shooting. I do know the location of the firehouse set of the show - 9th Street, between 38th and 40th Avenue, Long Island City. We stumbled upon that when biking!

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/72/160625905_9b29e964dc.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/triborough/160625905/)

And then there was Life on Mars. ABC wasn't being cooperative and we wanted to do a piece on it, so we did a little digging and found out where they were filming. You can find the writeup here (http://gothamist.com/2008/08/27/life_on_mars_found_in_williamsburg.php).

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3026/2801834193_1d327d464f.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/triborough/2801834193/)

So what is the moral of this story?
Through a combination of dumb luck, an idea of where some shows commonly film, plus a bit of detective work can lead to you finding something filming. Sometimes you can even find something you were looking for!

One caveat though, it can be as boring as hell to watch.

[adchick82]

I came out of the subway a few weeks ago and had to take a detour due to exterior scene shots at the Museum of Natural History for Night at the Museum II. Nothing like Amelia Earhart's plane (or a model, at least) to mess up the commute home.

[brianac]

FIRE HOUSE

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09042008/photos/re050e.jpg (http://javascript<b></b>:SLIDES.hotlink())
FANTASTIC 14: "Rescue Me" will film at the Loft 14 development.

Last updated: 10:56 pm
September 3, 2008
Posted: 12:00 am
September 4, 2008

Denis Leary's TV series "Rescue Me" actually uses real New York City props.

The FX show, which focuses on the lives of New York City firefighters after 9/11, has just signed a six-month lease with Loft 14, the 10-story condominium building at 135 W. 14th St., where taping of their fifth season will begin this month.

According to the folks at Core Group Marketing, Canterbury Productions is taking the full-floor 2,148 square-foot apartment on the second level with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a private terrace for $14,000 a month.

On the show, the apartment - which has a real asking price of $2,375 million - belongs to Sheila Keefe (played by actress Callie Thorne), who is Tommy Gavin's (Leary's) ex-girlfriend and Gavin's deceased firefighter cousin's widow.

Got all that?

http://www.nypost.com/seven/09042008/realestate/fire_house_127353.htm

Copyright 2008 NYP Holdings,

[brianac]

Tax Credits Bring More TV Shows to New York City

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/09/25/nyregion/filming600.jpg Claudette Barius/HBO
An episode of “Entourage” shot in Queens. More Photos > (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/09/25/arts/television/20080925_25BETTY_SS_index.html)

By DAVE ITZKOFF
Published: September 24, 2008

When the third season of “Ugly Betty (http://abc.go.com/primetime/uglybetty/)” begins on Thursday, viewers who see the show’s star, America Ferrera (http://movies.nytimes.com/person/302580/America-Ferrera?inline=nyt-per), stumble past the Brooklyn Bridge or the Empire State Building (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/e/empire_state_building/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) will be seeing something new: New York.
Multimedia

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/09/25/arts/television/betty.jpgSlide Show (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/09/25/arts/television/20080925_25BETTY_SS_index.html)On Location in NYC (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/09/25/arts/television/20080925_25BETTY_SS_index.html)

Until this season, the ABC show was produced in Los Angeles, where its exterior shots were frequently filmed in front of green screens, and the distinctive New York architecture was added later by computer.

But thanks to tax discounts recently instituted by New York City and New York State, the show is now being filmed in New York, at sound stages in Long Island City and locations throughout the five boroughs.

“Ugly Betty” was not the only series to take notice of these incentives.

The city expects 19 prime-time television series (up from 12 last year) to be produced in New York for the 2008-9 season, according to the mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting. They include NBC (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/nbc_universal/index.html?inline=nyt-org)’s “30 Rock (http://nbc.com/30_Rock/),” whose creator and star, Tina Fey (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/tina_fey/index.html?inline=nyt-per), gave thanks in an Emmy acceptance speech on Sunday night to the New York tax discounts that made it viable to shoot in New York; Fox’s “Fringe (http://fox.com/fringe/)” which, without the tax breaks, would have been shot in Toronto; HBO (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/home_box_office_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org)’s “In Treatment (http://hbo.com/intreatment/),” another recent transplant from Los Angeles; as well as forthcoming pilots on ABC, Showtime and USA.

The tax incentives have also been a financial boon to the city: the mayor’s office estimated that city-based shoots contributed $957 million in spending between April 23 and Sept. 23 of this year, an increase from $452 million during the same period last year.

But the increase of television production in the city, added to an already steady schedule of film production, has given rise to a new problem: a glut of shows competing for finite resources and photogenic streets.

“In Manhattan now, especially in the last year or so since the tax incentive came about, we’re literally tripping over each other,” said Tom Ross, the location manager for the USA series “Law & Order: Criminal Intent (http://www.nbc.com/Law_&_Order:_Criminal_Intent/),” which has filmed in New York since 2001. “Every day we were going to be someplace, Woody Allen (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/woody_allen/index.html?inline=nyt-per) was going to be there the next day; ‘Ugly Betty’ was there the day before.”

As a result, many producers and location managers said, they are rediscovering the value of filming in boroughs other than Manhattan.

“It’s such a different world than most places people think of as New York,” said Silvio Horta, the executive producer of “Ugly Betty,” whose film crews have popped up everywhere from Coney Island to the meatpacking district to Jackson Heights, Queens. “Nothing like that exists in L.A. — those row houses, the elevated trains, the wrought iron.

Nothing even comes close. Now we’re here. We don’t have to fake it anymore.”

For some television series, the various boroughs are appealing simply because locations can stand in for somewhere else. For a recent episode of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” that called for scenes at a Massachusetts bed-and-breakfast, an Arizona condominium, a house in rural Pennsylvania and a prison in upstate New York, Mr. Ross found all of the locations on Staten Island, within a mile and a half of one another.

On other shows, the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island are often used as counterpoints or commentaries on Manhattan — a tradition established by vintage series that exploited the spirit of a borough if not the actual real estate, like “The Honeymooners,” which was set in Brooklyn, but shot in a Manhattan theater, and “All in the Family,” set in Astoria, but shot in Los Angeles.

On the CW soap opera “Gossip Girl (http://www.cwtv.com/shows/gossip-girl),” visits to Williamsburg or Dumbo, in Brooklyn, are meant to remind viewers that not everyone lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan — or behaves as its cosseted residents do.

“From a social point of view, it contrasts the value of money, and fashion and beauty with that of family and being together,” said Amy Kaufman, a “Gossip Girl” producer who lives in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.

And the HBO comedy “Entourage (http://hbo.com/entourage/)” recently filmed portions of a forthcoming episode in Woodside, Queens, in an effort to evoke the working-class roots of its wealthy Hollywood characters.

“You can’t get that New York flavor without really being there and feeling it,” said Doug Ellin (http://movies.nytimes.com/person/212927/Doug-Ellin?inline=nyt-per), the show’s creator and executive producer.

When Mr. Horta adapted “Ugly Betty” from a Colombian telenovela, he very consciously placed the show’s protagonist, Betty Suarez, and her family in Jackson Heights to reinforce their humble immigrant roots and Betty’s grander aspirations of becoming a magazine writer.

“There’s that geographical and psychological bridge and tunnel linking her dreams to where she lives,” Mr. Horta said. “The contrast is so great.”

But production costs, logistics and tradition dictated that the show would be made in Los Angeles.

Around the same time, the city and state of New York were initiating measures (http://nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E00E5DE103FF934A2575BC0A9629C8B 63&scp=11&sq=Pataki credit tax film&st=cse) to encourage more film and television shoots. In September 2004, George E. Pataki (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/george_e_pataki/index.html?inline=nyt-per), then the governor, signed into law a program offering a 10 percent tax credit to companies shooting 75 percent of their productions in the state; in January 2005, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/michael_r_bloomberg/index.html?inline=nyt-per) approved a companion program that provided an additional 5 percent tax credit to productions in the city.

In April, after neighboring states like New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut created similar programs, offering tax credits as high as 25 or 30 percent, Gov. David A. Paterson (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/david_a_paterson/index.html?inline=nyt-per) signed a law increasing the New York State credit (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/11/nyregion/11film.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=Paterson film tax credit movies&st=cse&oref=slogin) to 30 percent. New York City added free outdoor marketing, on the sides of buses, for example, and discounts with nearby vendors.

More studio space was built in Brooklyn and Queens.

In particular, Mr. Horta said, the increased tax credit was directly responsible for the decision of ABC Studios, which produces “Ugly Betty,” to move the show to New York. “That was always a fantasy,” he said, “but I never thought in a million years it would ever be possible.”

But television productions are not always immediately welcomed. Two years ago, when Francois Guerrier, a Haitian émigré and 40-year resident of Jackson Heights, was visited by a scout from “Ugly Betty” who wanted to use the exterior of his home to stand in for the Suarez residence, he was deeply suspicious. “Living in New York,” Mr. Guerrier said, “you become very apprehensive about dealing with people ringing your door at nine o’clock in the morning.”

But he relented, allowing the show to film the now-familiar aqua-green house near Elmhurst Avenue. In recent months, as “Ugly Betty” has moved its operations to New York, he said, he has been impressed by the efforts of producers to cultivate good relations in the area — a block party given by the show in July in front of Mr. Guerrier’s home was attended by Ms. Ferrera and covered on the local news — and he speaks proudly of the values that he says “Ugly Betty” represents.

“It shows you the development of someone who is, what we used to consider in college, maybe a nerd,” Mr. Guerrier said, “who maybe didn’t come from a lot of money, but is able to cut a niche in a very competitive establishment. That transcends cultural lines.”

While they juggle the needs of their shows with the demands of residents, many producers say they are also scrambling to capture the rustic and unglamorous portions of the city, which are gradually being trampled beneath the march of gentrification.

The old New York Shipyard in Red Hook, once a go-to spot for shows that needed a hardscrabble, industrial edge, recently became the home of an Ikea (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/ikea/index.html?inline=nyt-org) furniture store.

“Often,” said Mr. Ross of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “I’ll send a scout out to someplace and I’ll say, ‘It’s a really great old warehouse. My guy will go out there and they’re like, ‘Nothing’s there any more. It’s gone.’ ”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/nyregion/25betty.html?ref=nyregion

Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[topcop72]

I have been in NY(lives in Queens) for 12 years now and never caught an "onset shooting" in NYC. Heck, I never really catch many(if any at all) celebrities that I recognized. I always heard about this movie/show being shot at this location or that location afterwards and always wanted to see a real shooting for once. Is there any site/s where I can get info on what movie/show is shooting at what location?

Ahhh
They were shooting Law and Order ny City Hall yesterday

[topcop72]

I have been in NY(lives in Queens) for 12 years now and never caught an "onset shooting" in NYC. Heck, I never really catch many(if any at all) celebrities that I recognized. I always heard about this movie/show being shot at this location or that location afterwards and always wanted to see a real shooting for once. Is there any site/s where I can get info on what movie/show is shooting at what location?

I work right by city hall and they are usually shooting Law and Order during they afternoon and sometimes up and down Chambers by city hall. I ll let you know next time

[brianac]

How Do We Show Our Love for New York? We Say It With Monsters

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/10/19/nyregion/19destroy01-600.jpg WETA
A giant orb lands in Central Park in an update of the 1951 film “The Day the Earth Stood Still.”

By SAM ROBERTS (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/sam_roberts/index.html?inline=nyt-per)
Published: October 18, 2008

The futuristic-looking fiberglass discount theater ticket booth finally opened in Times Square last week, but an advance peek was available in Will Smith (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/will_smith/index.html?inline=nyt-per)’s postapocalyptic film “I Am Legend (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/),” which opened in theaters nearly a year ago.

The actual booth (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/nyregion/17tkts.html?ref=nyregion), topped by shimmering glass bleachers, took so long to install — 29 months since ground was broken, or more than twice as long as it took to finish the Empire State Building (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/e/empire_state_building/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) — that the filmmakers decided to make do with a mockup devised in an armory in the Bronx.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen a building destroyed before it was completed,” said Nicholas S. Leahy, the architect of the booth.

But the 2007 film was only the latest in long line of disaster scenarios that, in their own odd way, seem to celebrate New York City.

From the earliest urban legends to the latest computer games, Americans have embraced fantasies of the city’s destruction as “a reaffirmation of New York’s greatness,” said Max Page, a professor of history and architecture and the author of a new book called “The City’s End: Two Centuries of Fantasies, Fears and Premonitions of New York’s Destruction.”

“We destroy New York on film and paper by telling stories of clear and present dangers, with causes and effects, villains and heroes, to make our world more comprehensible than it has become,” writes Professor Page, who teaches at the University of Massachusetts (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/university_of_massachusetts/index.html?inline=nyt-org) in Amherst.

As far back as 1824, hundreds of gullible New Yorkers were hoodwinked into believing that overdevelopment would tip Lower Manhattan into the bay. By the early 20th century, change was such a constant that Henry James (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/j/henry_james/index.html?inline=nyt-per) was pronouncing New York “a provisional city.”

Upheaval seems to have been taken for granted by nearly everyone from W. E. B. Du Bois to Upton Sinclair (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/upton_sinclair/index.html?inline=nyt-per), from Orson Welles (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/w/orson_welles/index.html?inline=nyt-per) to Mr. Smith. On seeing the skyline for the first time, H. G. Wells was said to have declared, “What a ruin it will make!”

In 1907, The New York Times published a brief article (http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E02E5D91E30E233A25753C3A9639C946697D6CF) about Horace Johnson (http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9B02E7DB113CE733A25755C1A9619C946796D6CF), a Connecticut farmer who, it was stated without elaboration, had correctly predicted the great blizzard of 1888 and the San Francisco earthquake. This time, he was forecasting an imminent earthquake so powerful it would sink Manhattan. The article’s headline dispassionately read: “Will Destroy New York.”

Professor Page reminds us, though, that for all the cinematic natural disasters, much of the mythical mayhem was self-inflicted.

The book jacket (http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/030011026X/ref=sib_dp_pop_fc?ie=UTF8&p=S001#reader-link) portrays the menacing 1950 Collier’s magazine cover that envisioned an atomic blast over Manhattan. In the futuristic film “Sleeper (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070707/),” Woody Allen (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/woody_allen/index.html?inline=nyt-per) blames the volatile leader of the city’s teachers’ union for the end of civilization as we know it — all because “a man named Albert Shanker (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/albert_shanker/index.html?inline=nyt-per) got hold of a nuclear device.”

So what makes New York a magnet for mayhem, real and imagined? Professor Page invokes a cartoon (http://www.cartoonbank.com/product_details.asp?mscssid=8F7KEWJ91ACB9MMG3U1RGM 3UXVXXCS05&sitetype=1&did=4&sid=38606&pid=&keyword=godzilla&section=all&title=undefined&whichpage=4&sortBy=popular) in The New Yorker (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/the_new_yorker/index.html?inline=nyt-org) showing Godzilla and King Kong nonchalantly strolling past scenes of havoc as Manhattanites flee before them. “Let’s face it,” the scaly monster tells his furry friend, “the city’s in our blood.”

The writer Joan Didion (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/d/joan_didion/index.html?inline=nyt-per), recalling the images of New York that movies conjured up for her, once described her adopted hometown as “the shining and perishable dream itself.”

That moviegoers were so familiar with the skyline “made the city the indispensable target for cinematic disasters of all descriptions,” James Sanders wrote in his book “Celluloid Skyline: New York and the Movies.”

“How better to convey the end of the world than to show the destruction of its best-known place.”

Michael Miscione, the Manhattan borough historian, agreed. “When the aliens shoot up a grain silo, we yawn,” he said. “When they blast the head off the Statue of Liberty, we all gasp and know they mean business.” Still, he added, “audiences are uplifted when they see that the good guys have survived and show promise of recovery.”

The hiatus after 9/11 in imagined real or potential disasters inflicted on New York was short-lived, Professor Page notes. In fact, a remake (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970416/) of the 1951 cold war classic “The Day the Earth Stood Still (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043456/),” to be released in December, promises to have plenty of terror-stricken New Yorkers in a city where nothing ever stands still for long.

As one awestruck Manhattan cabbie says in the original: “My ol’ lady was right. We shoulda got a place in the country.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/nyregion/19destroy.html?ref=nyregion

Copyright 2008 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[brianac]

12.8.08 Filming Locations (http://www.onlocationvacations.com/2008/12/07/12808-filming-locations/)

December 7, 2008

by Christine (http://www.onlocationvacations.com/author/admin/) ·
2 Comments (http://www.onlocationvacations.com/2008/12/07/12808-filming-locations/#comments)

Confessions of a Shopaholic is filming in the vicinity of 13th Street between 5th and 6th Aves in New York, they will be at this location tomorrow as well. (Thanks to Kat, Dr, and our anonymous tipster!)

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits will be filming on 78th and Broadway in NYC all week. (Thanks Amy!)

Rescue Me is filming around Park Ave and 60th in Manhattan.

Cupid is filming around S 9th and Bedford in Brooklyn.

We got two locations for Life on Mars, both in Brooklyn. The first is around Dean St and Grand Ave, the second near Court St & Schermerhorn St.

Kings is filming at the Hempstead House.

Copyright © 2008 On Location Vacations (http://www.onlocationvacations.com/)

[brianac]

TV and Movie Filming Locations for 3.31.09

March 30, 2009 by Christine (http://www.onlocationvacations.com/author/admin/)
Filed under Daily Filming Locations (http://www.onlocationvacations.com/category/daily-filming-locations/)


The Extra Man is filming around Laguardia Pl and Bleeker (6am to 2am) and 7th Avenue at 41st Street, NYC. (Thanks Joanna and MW!) This movie stars Paul Dano, John C. Reilly, and Kate Holmes but rumor has it, Kate is done filming.

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, starring, Nicholas Cage is filming along Broadway between 78th and 79th Streets and on 78th between Broadway and Amsterdam, NYC, all week. (Thanks Charlotte!)

Salt, starring Angelina Jolie, is filming at Riverside Dr/Broadway at W 155th St in NYC.

Law and Order: CI is filming on West 4th from about 6th Ave to Washington Square, NYC. (Thanks Tara!)

Gossip Girl is filming near Centre St & Chamber St, NYC, 6 a.m. -10 p.m. (Thanks Tiffani and Ruthie!)

Howl, starring James Franco, is filming at E 78th and Lexington in NYC again. (Thanks to James and C!)

Bored to Death starring Ted Danson, Jason Schwartzman, and Olivia Thirlby is filming in NYC around 6th Ave & 20th St. We also heard they are filming today and tomorrow on E 10th/E 9th and Stuyvesant. (This might be tomorrow only, I think the date came from a permit, today may be the tow date.) (Thanks Bella and Dr!) Upd: Trailers and trucks on 55th between Park and Lexington. (Thanks JAM!) Upd: They are filming at the Citigroup Center on 3rd and 54th this afternoon. (Thanks Jess)

SVU is filming around 5th Avenue/Lenox and W 121st- W 124th in Harlem from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. (Thanks Lottie and Anon!)

The Baster, starring Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman, is filming near Bedford and N 6th St in Brooklyn.

The Untitled Nancy Meyers Project, starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin, Lake Bell, and John Krasinski, is still filming (http://www.onlocationvacations.com/2009/03/27/more-from-the-untitled-nancy-meyers-project-today-in-brooklyn/) at Broadway Stages in Brooklyn.

http://www.onlocationvacations.com/2009/03/30/tv-and-movie-filming-locations-for-33109/

[Derek2k3]

TV and Movie Filming Locations for 3.31.09

Law and Order: CI is filming on West 4th from about 6th Ave to Washington Square, NYC. (Thanks Tara!)


Walked by this just a few hours ago. Didn't know it was Law & Order, but recognized Jeff Goldblum.
Only noticed because I watched The Fly two nights ago. I'm usually bad at recognizing people from the tube.

http://tv.popcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/jeff_goldblum.jpg

[Bronxbombers]

Scenes from Salt Angelina Jolie's new movie are being filmed in New York City. Does anyone else know which other movies and which TV shows are having shooting locations in New York City? I need to know.

[KenNYC]

Stop stalking celebs, the FBI are on to you! :)

[Hof]

Back around year 2000, my son and I watched a midnight shoot of a scene from Chris Rock's "Down to Earth" take place at a portal to Central Park. When Olmstead designed the park, he gave each entry into the park a name. He called them gates; this one was at 5th Ave and about 90th, called the Engineer's Gate.

My kid and I had walked through part of the Park, and as we were coming out between the gates we were asked to move across Fifth Ave. We had interrupted the shot. There were a half-dozen light towers, a crew of maybe 20, with several camera setups around the area.
Behind them and lined up along a good length of The Avenue were maybe 25 curious onlookers. That part of the street was blocked off from traffic
At 1AM, even in the Heart of The City there aren't many people out for a walk.

In the movie, Rock plays a guy who was taken from life too early, so he's given a second chance at it by some Higher Power. Unfortunately, the body he used to have was destroyed, so he can come back to life--as himself-- only it will have to be in the body of a middle-aged, white Park Avenue millionaire.

The scene we were watching being made was the one where Chris chases a mugger into the Park and beyond the gates. A struggle ensues off-camera and Chris dies. His dramatic death scene.
Directors actually say "Cut", and everybody starts doing something else; they move cameras, makeup people appear, and those handheld scene boards with the little electronic guillotines appear in number around the set as the crew sets up the shot again.
Directors also say "Places, everyone", too.

Chris, facing south along 5th Ave, has something snatched from his hand and stolen from him by the thief.
He responds to the mugger, turns around and runs about 35-40 feet, goes between the gates and into the Park and that's it. Then he did the same thing, over and over and into the absolute middle of the night.

The crew must have shot the scene ten times before I got bored with it and moved on. Along the side streets, thigh-thick power cables snaked along the curbside while large vans with portable power sources hummed away; a few 18-wheelers took up half the block, providing props and storage, and a caterer's truck, a few motorhomes and some limos filled the rest of the street. People mill about on the sidewalks. These movie shoots involve a lot of stuff and a lot of people.

I saw the results about six months later when it came out on DVD, and the camera angle was from right where I was standing. I could have taken the shot...

[meesalikeu]

Scenes from Salt Angelina Jolie's new movie are being filmed in New York City. Does anyone else know which other movies and which TV shows are having shooting locations in New York City? I need to know.

you didnt see this link brianac posted just above? its pretty cool, you can check it regularly:

http://www.onlocationvacations.com/category/daily-filming-locations/