My friend was filming a movie for our final work term assignment for school, and one of the scenes had him filming one of the girls outside on his street, as she “hit” her head on the curb, with a little bit of fake blood for good measure. It was harmless, as the girl laughed between takes, she clearly was in no danger. But NO, some bitch had to come outside, exclaiming “THAT’S NOT FUNNY” “You shouldn’t be doing that!” and threatened to call the police. Obviously he wasn’t going to stop filming, so the bitch ended up ACTUALLY calling the cops. They moved filming inside and waited for the cops to arrive. The police car drove up, saw nothing suspicious, and drove off. Bitch should have been charged for wasting precious time, that could have been spent actually saving someone’s life or something.
—Annoyed With Cranky Old Hags
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2009.
What were the cops supposed to do? Do you need a permit to film like that or something?
The lady may have been a little off her rocker, but did you bother to try and explain what you were doing or try to appease her at all? Or did you tell her to “go ahead and call the cops you cranky old hag?”
Just wondering is all.
You technically need a permit to film on city property, but the cops/city never enforce it on little indie movies.
That said, it’s always good to call the dispatch and let them know where you’re filming. There’s nothing like having two guns pointed at you because the police can’t tell a movie scene from a crime in progress. Don’t assume lights and a camera will clue them in. It didnt with us.
Your friend is just as big of a douchebag as the woman. All he had to do was say they were filming a movie and that would have been the end of it. But instead nothing was said, the cops called and arrived. In the meantime your friend hides inside instead of stepping up. What was he going to do if the cops started to conduct a search (the report to the station probably went like “a woman’s head was bashed against the sidewalk and there’s blood), calling in additional personnel. No I have to say your friend was the one wasting police time when “they could have been actually saving someone’s life or something”.
All I can say is
Ahhhhhh old people….
We were filming a couple of summers ago up on Agricola St. We had a permit & had a section of the road coned off for Production vehicles parking, we were not blocking traffic. At lunch time the grip/electric crew was BBQing on the sidewalk beside their truck & the cops came & told them it had to go…it was dangerous to BBQ on the sidewalk. Where did we move to ? we put it on the street between 2 parked vehicles about 2 inches from the curb. Problem solved, moral is- the cops can be pretty reasonable if you are.
Just to add to something I forgot to mention when I originally wrote the Bitch, but yes, he did inform the woman about how they were just filming a movie for class, but the woman still went on about how it wasn’t funny, nor did she find it appropriate. So, I don’t really feel she should have called the police. It just doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to be alerting the authorities.
I was with the friend (whom this “bitch” is about) when this was happening, and we told her upfront that we were “filming for a school project”, to which she responded, “I don’t care, that’s not funny. Do you want me to call the cops?” We were baffled, to say the least. We had that one last scene to finish anyway, so we did it. And she called the cops. And when we saw that they actually came, we stepped outside the house to talk to them, but the cops drove off. So, we did what we had to. We knew it would be immature to badger the old lady, as much of a bitch as she was.
So, no, no douchebaggery on our part, aside from maybe not having considered getting a permit.
I get a huge chuckle out of anybody who writes “SERIOUSLY?!” or anything like that in any manifest. Writing, subjects, texts, anything. It is a clear-view window into the person’s age and maturity level.
Seriously – does anyone like, still talk like that?!
It seems to me that pointing out something as miniscule as that, would bring you down as low as I apparently am. What does that word have to do with my maturity level and age? Pointing out something as stupid as that, doesn’t make you look like you’re any more mature, or at least, I don’t think it does. Don’t you have something more important to do?
He really doesn’t.