RSS
July 25, 2007
Why I hate Hollywood. And movie shoots. And the city of Los Angeles. And my life.*
/>
*Update: Read the developments from the next day.
I don't think I'm a bad person. I'm nice to strangers. I gave my belt to a homeless man a few weeks ago. And I drive my car as little as possible so as not to pollute the environment or exacerbate our dangerous oil dependency. I bike everywhere. In fact, I frequently go a week or more without using my car at all. So why am I getting punished by the city of Los Angeles and a bunch of Hollywood twits?
Here's my story: I hadn't driven since Wednesday of last week. I even rode my bike to Union Station to catch the FlyAway shuttle to LAX when I went out of town last weekend -- luggage on my back and everything. My car was parked on Hoover, which never has street cleaning and is usually a great place to leave the car for days at a time.
Then yesterday morning I saw my car as I left the house on my bike, headed for work, and everything looked fine. That evening, however, I returned from work I found the entire side of the street was empty... including where my car had been.
I checked the signs, called the number, and it turned out there was a temporary "No Parking/Tow Zone" put into effect for Tuesday only. The city is only required to leave signs up for 24 hours before they can ticket and tow your car. So why was a tow zone put into effect on my street for that day? Was the mayor visiting? Were they constructing a new hospital or homeless shelter? Alas, no. The answer appeared shortly after I discovered my missing car, in the form of several Star Wagons arriving to park in the lot behind my apartment. I thought about throwing eggs, but it seemed like a waste of food.
Thanks to the movie jerks, I'm out a bunch of money. The tow cost $185 and the parking ticket is $50. I hate Hollywood so much, I would boycott movies for the rest of my life -- except Netflix just decreased my monthly fee. Maybe I'll start illegally downloading movies until I think I've got $235 worth of free flicks.
| 
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
[ report this ]
LA is horrible and uncivilized. Someone should do a Top 100 reasons why LA is horrible list. I think I have 200 good reasons. Most other large cities, Chicago for example, will just move your car to a safe place nearby and return it when the filming is over. No charge. That's civilized.
[ report this ]
You know that "Hollywood" place is where a lot of movies and tv have been made for 50+ years, right? Guess where all of those Netflix deliveries you're enjoying started their lives?
I'm sorry your car was towed; that sucks.
[ report this ]
sell your car.
[ report this ]
Give FilmLA a call. It's the agency that permits on location filming and there should have been fliers posted in that area saying so. They are also charged with making sure neighborhoods remain film friendly so that production doesn't go elsewhere - like out of state.
[ report this ]
Definitely call FilmLA... they should have posted flyers warning you.
[ report this ]
back when i did have a car and lived in hwood this happened pretty often. yes they may post those "production only" white signs that bums steel and write on the back of, but they're usually posted very close to the day that you're gonna get towed. never enough head time. i've seen them posted the day of which is ridiculous.
[ report this ]
That blows. I live on Franklin, right near the John Sowden House (where it seems like they are filming every other week), and I've always dreaded this happening to me. Let us know if you get your money back from Film LA.
[ report this ]
OK. As a life long resident of L.A. and a former employee of the film business, I felt the need to pipe in here.
1. L.A. is a town where film is one of the main industries. If you do not like filming around L.A., then (and I do not mean this is a bad way, but...) leave. It was here long before you and will be long after you. It is PART of the city. It is like moving to New Orleans and complaining about jazz. It's just lame.
2. For those of you who want to complain about filming around town, consider the idea that we should be WELCOMING this. Some of you may not have been in L.A. long enough to remember when the film industry was losing a GREAT deal of work/business to Canada. That meant that most of your grip/electric/set decorator/makeup friends were all suffering for work. There has been a great push to bring filming back to LA, so please, let's not chase it off. Remember - only good can come from supporting your own.
3. Getting towed sucks, sure, but do not blame it on others. Parking your car for longer than 72 hours without moving it is a tow-able offence as well. It is YOUR responsibility to check on your car and it's status, not the responsibility of the city/film crew/FilmLA to make sure that every single person has seen the signs. Your car = your responsibility. Own it, completely.
4. Welcome to L.A. Be happy the sun is out.
[ report this ]
once they were filming on my street, and i was a total dick to the guy who was asking me to move my car, so that it wasn't in the shot (because i was parked in my PARKING SPACE, they had no grounds to tow)
i held out until they offered to pay me to move the car. i only got $20, and looking back i should have held out for $60.
i would write to whoever is producing that film, and demand to be compensated or else you will make it your mission to ruin them on LAist.com any and every chance you get.
it's worth a try, and thats what i would do.
[ report this ]
When you walk by movies being made, patronize them and wear a walkie talkie and get in line for free craft services. Tell them they make rilly gud movies. Ask if you can meet Spielbergs.
[ report this ]
yah, pwn the film. always ask to speak to the locations person its hilarious. then ask if they'll put you in the movie.
"put me in your movie, put me in your movie" in a very shrill voice.
[ report this ]
FilmLA is my enemy. It all started when the day I was moving, parking in front of my house was restricted for filming.
Very few productions comply with the rules. Usually, the No Parking signs go up before we get the filming notices.
When I moved into my Studio City neighborhood (what FilmLA calls Colfax Meadows), there was filming about every other week - taking up parking (including blocking my spots on private property), killing lawns, making noise and pissing off the hood.
So I started calling every time I got a notice - calling FilmLA and the production company. Complaining about every rule that was not adhered to. Asking the production company to not park on my block if possible. Colfax Meadows got declared a "sensitive neighborhood" and productions have decreased.
Complain a lot. Encourage your neighbors to do the same. Get a big blowup snowman and put him on your lawn. It seems to work.
[ report this ]
it ain't all sunglasses and autographs, kid...
[ report this ]
I loved living in downtown LA when I was broke because of all the free craft services (the main payoff of extra work too). They would just offer us food, wither out of guilt or maybe to keep us from causing trouble.
There was one guy who would hang a giant sheet out of his window with the word FUCK spray-painted across it until someone would come pay him off.
I feel for you about the ticket though. Once an entire street was towed because people had torn down the temporary no-parking signs. The tow-truck driver felt so bad he stayed and gave people rides to the impound lot.
[ report this ]
So if your car had been towed because of something "worthy" like a hospital or homeless shelter being constructed, that would have been okay? You wouldn't have complained at all about the 24 hour notice that you missed? You would have been happy to pay the fine for that reason? I find that hard to believe.
[ report this ]
some suggestions: stage a mini-critical mass bike storm to disrupt the shooting of a kissing scene.
crash the catered meals on the set.
Urinate in and around their Star PortaPotties
[ report this ]
move back to san francisco you stupid hippie.
[ report this ]
#8 is right to a certain extent. The Film industry is part of LA. Complaining about it is pointless.
Then again, sometime these people are retarded. My friend got towed under similar circumstances once. When we figured out the deal, we went out onto the street to look for the temp No-parking signs since he was adamant that there were none. Sure enough, there was a cardboard sign stapled to a phone poll, about 15 ft in the air. Who on earth looks up that high to check for parking signs?
The only real solution is to be vigilant. In Santa Monica, anyone can report a car that hasn't moved in 48 hours and have it towed. Bottom line is, if you're parked on the street, you have to keep close tabs on your car.
[ report this ]
miss_mo: I've been here for only a few months and I definitely remember hearing about the Canada thing. The Industry is a huge part of life in LA, just like snow in Boston. That doesn't give people a right to be jerks, but it does mean that to a certain extent, life in LA means we get to shrug and move on with our lives. I've found Film LA to be surprisingly good at being a liaison between the Industry and residents.
[ report this ]
yeah, you should never complain about anything. you should embrace everything. you should say "i'm so happy my car was towed because the sun is out and i get to watch movies on my DVD player so i don't care if people are jackasses because in the end, it's MY responsibility!"
jesus christ someone's been reading too much of The Secret.
[ report this ]
First off, I have not read The Secret, I know nothing of what it suggests so no, that is not my problem.
Second, complain all you want, as long as you don't try and blame others for your shit. Your car = your shit. Take care of it.
Third, towing your car legally does not make the film company a jackass. As a matter of fact, the fact that they reimbursed you when they did not have to actually illustrates what jackasses they aren't.