QUALITY OF LIFE IMITATING ART

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.

How many of us have been forced to walk blocks out of our way because a shoot was taking place? How often have you been prevented from entering your favorite bar or restaurant by some clipboard-wielding jackass PA with an inflated sense of self-importance? We even know people who've been told they can't enter their own homes because some soap opera was filming on the sidewalk in front of their building.

Film crews always seem to be under the questionable assumption that their half-hour sitcom (or whatever the fuck they're working on) is far more important than the real lives we're trying to lead around, behind and beneath their lights, cables, cameras and trailers.

If you live in a small town, say, and a film crew moves in, it can be a unique and interesting experience for a bit. Then everyone packs up and goes away. But if you live in New York, the novelty of witnessing a location shoot was gone a long time ago, and the film crews aren't going anywhere. These new tax breaks mean they could become a weekly, if not daily inconvenience, depending on where you go. We know it's petty, but it's one more goddamn thing to deal with.

(As if to confirm our gripe, the day after the mayor signed the tax break, a location scout was in the lobby of the building here, badgering the guy at the security desk about getting permission to film.)

We can't help but wonder how it is, for all his talk about "improving our quality of life," that whenever he smells money, the mayor always seems to make decisions that ensure the quality of our lives will get just a little bit worse.