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Filming Abuses Land Woman In Burger King
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by jr | September 14, 2007 at 11:09 am
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Rather than lying in bed last night, a Powell St. resident was sitting in Burger King until almost 11 p.m. That was to avoid being poisoned during the filming of “Psych Season 2″ outside her apartment. Last month, she sat in Burger King until almost 11 p.m. on Mon. August 20th. That was to avoid being poisoned during the filming of “Circle” outside her home.
This woman got carbon monoxide poisoning during the filming of a Honda commercial in 2000. She claims that the Vancouver Film Office responded to the poisoning by continuing to create the conditions that caused it.
“The Vancouver Film Office was created in order to ensure that filming takes place in a way that is least disruptive to the citizens of Vancouver.” Vancouver Film Office website
During the filming of the Honda commercial, the resident alleges, the crew left a generator running just below her window, along with an idling truck, for most of the day.
After a year of struggling to have health and safety standards recognized on Powell St. during a period of mounting film fatigue in the over-filmed Downtown Eastside, the resident did get a letter from Muriel Honey, Manager of the Vancouver Film Office, dated Sept. 24, 2001. “The complaints you raised during the filming were valid — specifically the problems with generators spewing fumes right under the window of your home. . . .” It is now six years later and the same conditions continue to be re-created.
The resident did not get much satisfaction from Honda either. She told Honda in writing in 2000 that she had gotten sick. How did they respond? “They didn’t”, she says.
Mercedes Benz was responsive though, she says. In September 2001, Mercedes Benz canceled a commercial at that location at the last minute. “I bet that cost them something,” she says.
There is no mention of this background, of course, on the BC Film Commission website which promotes this strip of Powell St. as a prime filming location on their home page.
The public image promoted by the Vancouver Film Office and the BC Film Commission is that they value cooperation with residents, but this resident says it’s been her experience that residents who expect genuine cooperation are seen as “troublemakers”. The fact that she spoke up during the filming of “It’s a Girl Thing” starring Kate Capshaw (Capshaw is married to Steven Spielberg who appeared to be on the set as well) was used against her by a location manager during the Honda commercial. The location manager, “Brian”, wrote a memo ridiculing her.
To find out how she was ridiculed in the memo and why this Powell St. resident sees internet exposure as one solution to alleged unfair filming practices, or to read the full article and comments, go to the Downtown Eastside Enquirer
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 16:40 on September 14th, 2007
The film industry is a waste of space. It provides sporatic and low paying jobs at best, to those who have a dream.
I lived in PoMo over ten years ago and the city council was big on "The Economic Benefits of The Film Industry." (I have no idea todays thoughts, nor do I care)
More than once I was seriously inconvenienced by street closures around my place of residence. Sit, wait and shut up or discover the wrath of the Port Moody Police. Are these public streets or not? Can they be closed at someones whim? No government should be allowed to close a public place, to the public, for less than legitimate maintenance OR an emergency.
A stressful week at work, looking forward to going home and taking the dog for a walk around Buntzen Lake. (4 hr walk so you need to have a plan) Arrive at the park and find it closed due to filming. Oh, no problem, what choice do I have but to go elsewhere? Say one word and the cops will have the bracelets on you. Some fucking democracy we live in.
It's time to actually quantify the benefits of the film industry. Once looked at objectively, and the expenses are deducted appropriately, I believe this industry was set up to enrich a few at the greater expense of others.
Let the film industry pay for thier own expenses. I can't close your street, inconvenience you and your neighbours, to run my business, why should they??
at 13:07 on September 15th, 2007
Film Fatigue
Rebuff,
Sounds like film fatigue set in out in Port Moody. It was a serious problem here in the Downtown Eastside a few years back because the film industry liked the "gritty" feel of the area; there were at times multiple film shoots in the area simultaneously. It's slowed down now, partly because the Canadian dollar is higher. And DaVinci's Inquest, a series shot in this neighborhood ended it's run.
The film industry started out making an effort to share a little of the film industry wealth with residents of the low income Downtown Eastside neighborhood. When a Claude Van damme movie came to Powell St. residents recall that anybody with a apartment located low enough to be kept awake by the "movie moon" and the noise got $100. People would share stories about little bits of compensation they got from the film industry for having to leave their home for a few hours or whatever. They were often pleased about being included.
But the film industry soon stopped directly compensating individuals whose lives were disrupted by filming on the Downtown Eastside. That’s because the not-for-profit groups on the Downtown Eastside smelled money.
Organizations claiming to "represent" poor people in the neighorhood arranged to divert the film industry money toward themselves. The Downtown Eastside Residents Association, for example, got a deal where the film industry funded the publication of their newsletter and they got funding as well to hire local people to work with the film companies as “liaisons” to other local people. And they, of course, often hired their friends and relatives. (The woman in my story, though, was pleased that the DERA liaison supported her by confirming to “It’s a Girl Thing” that there was no permit to film at her address.) Suddenly, individuals directly impacted by filming outside their homes, the people sucking the exhaust pipes for hours or escaping to a late night restaurant, where out of the compensation loop. (I don’t know which organizations currently get film money.)
Since this story was published, I've been told that a huge housing co-op on Powell St. also took a pay off. They got a chunk of money from the film industry -- rumor has it that they got $1,500 at one time and put it into general revenue -- and in exchange they provided a "film liaison". But sometimes if a tenant is finding it impossible to carry on their life in their apartment due to filming, the best solution is for the film industry to offer the person $50 or $100 to go elsewhere for a few hours or for the day. That used to work. But such free market solutions were effectively eliminated on the Downtown Eastside by the collectivist organizations.
The film industry representatives even started to talk like the
big earners in the poverty industry who constantly have the word
“community” on their lips. The film industry was suddenly finding ways to “give back to the community” instead of to individuals affected by filming. One thing the film industry started doing was hosting a turkey dinner at Oppenheimer Park every December. Oppenheimer Park is a favorite hang out for drug dealers and addicts; povertarians are paid to run it. So
residents have the option of lining up there with junkies in the
December drizzle (remember, David Duchovny said it rains a lot in
Vancouver) for a turkey dinner. This has been going on for years now,
five or six years. The turkey dinner has a reputation for
being tasty, but people on the west side of the City, far from the
heart of the poverty industry, are not given turkey as a substitute for
compensation.
I saw an example of this on the local news awhile back. Some homeowners on the west side were upset that a film company sprayed phony snow around and people could feel it in their lungs. A woman was on the local news
complaining about it. Then she said, as accurately as I can remember,
‘Of course, we got compensated’, as though that was a given. This woman
has no poverty industry handlers standing between her and the film
industry.
Since I published this story, I've been told that part of the problem on the 100 block of Powell St. is that one guy with a condo repeatedly rents it out to the film industry. (There is subsidized housing, a mixed income housing co-op, low income hotels, and one building of condos on the block .) This guy makes money of course with this business. But he doesn't include the neighbors as business expenses and compensate them for disruptions. The reason, I'm told by Powell St. residents, that the woman in my story felt the need to go sit in Burger King was that this guy had rented out his condo and attracted the film industry to the block yet again. By not cooperating with the neighbors, this condo owner is ruining his own business because residents who have put up with this for years want the film industry to stop renting from him. Cooperating with the neighbors is good business.