Everyone who lives in Los Angeles has at one time or another been enormously inconvenienced by someone filming something. When a TV show or motion picture needs our streets, traffic is instantly rerouted, businesses are closed and "no parking" signs go up in the darnedest places. A year or two ago, my friends and I couldn't park in front of my house for a week because some Fox series was lensing a block or two away.
This is tolerated, apparently on the premise that it's good for the local economy. If you tell the studios they can't freely film on our streets, they're going to go use the streets of Vancouver or Dallas or some other city. (I mention Dallas because a few years ago, I was one of the producers of a TV pilot that was filmed there. The project wasn't of sufficient magnitude to have much impact on the finances of the great city of Dallas but the city's local film boards lavished us with freebees and perks, and for years after, I was inundated with mailings promising me the world to bring more film shoots to their town. I got the feeling that if I'd called up and said, "I'll come down there with a camcorder and shoot vacation footage but I want sexual favors from every good-looking woman in town," that could have been arranged.)
So to compete with that, L.A. will let filmmakers do just about anything anywhere for a few hundred bucks worth of permit fees. And in light of the new Bruce Willis "Die Hard" movie, more than a few people are asking why, and wondering if Bruce and his folks wouldn't be happier in Toronto. Live Free or Die Hard has received permission to close off streets all around L.A. Airport — where after all, there's almost never any traffic — and to blow things up on them. A recent announcement proclaimed to all…
Airline passengers and airport workers are advised that a major motion picture production near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) may cause delays in getting to the airport beginning this week.
Filming will occur in three periods:
Thursday, Nov. 2 through Sunday, Nov. 5
Wednesday, Nov. 8 through Sunday, Nov. 12
Saturday, Nov. 18 through Sunday, Nov. 19During all periods, Imperial Highway – one of the main access roads into and out of LAX — is scheduled to be closed in both directions between Nash Street and Aviation Blvd. from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; and the westbound lanes closed an additional three hours until 7 p.m. The film studio has indicated one westbound lane will be kept open whenever possible to allow for airport cargo traffic ONLY to access the LAX Imperial Cargo Center at the intersection of Imperial Highway and Aviation Blvd.
In addition, during three weekends of Nov. 4-5, Nov. 11-12, and Nov. 18-19, eastbound Century Freeway I-105 between La Cienega to Sepulveda Blvds. and the freeway connectors at I-105 east to I-405 north and south will be closed from 6 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., while westbound
I-105 during these times will be closed on an unannounced, intermittent (or rolling) basis. Westbound I-105 also will be closed on two Sundays, Nov. 5 and Nov. 12, from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.Traffic plans call for motorists using westbound Imperial Highway during closed periods to detour at the intersection of Imperial Highway and Aviation Blvd. If headed toward the LAX passenger terminal area, motorists will be diverted one mile on northbound Aviation Blvd. to westbound Century Blvd. into the airport. If headed to the west side of LAX or county beaches, motorists will be diverted three miles on southbound Aviation Blvd. to westbound El Segundo Blvd. to northbound Sepulveda Blvd. to resume on westbound Imperial Highway.
During each of the three Saturday closures of eastbound I-105, airport officials are advising that approximately 300 to 350 construction trucks related to LAX's South Airfield Improvement Project are expected to be routed on southbound Sepulveda Blvd. to eastbound El Segundo Blvd. to access the I-405 freeway.
The production company stated in its letter of intent and permit applications that it will use pyrotechnics (explosives) and "gunfire for the entire time" of the filming. One helicopter is scheduled to be used during weekend filming, and "there will be larger explosions" with accompanying smoke early morning of Sundays, Nov. 5 and 12.
Now, that sounds bad but it's actually worse than that…because they're also putting out bulletins that the schedule is changing so you may not be able to count on those dates and times. It pretty much comes down to: Stay the hell away from the airport for most of November.
So is this really good for the city? In an editorial this morning, the Los Angeles Times argues it is not, and I think they're right. Any benefits to the local industry have to be weighed against all the delayed flights or crew members…and there must be some businesses that will suffer from having all that traffic rerouted.
This is a problem that has quietly festered for some time. When they screwed up the parking in my neighborhood for a week, I didn't raise a stink because it was only for a week. I figured that mounting an effective protest would take longer than that (which it probably would have) and that it wouldn't happen again for a long time (which it hasn't). But airport street closures affect too many people and I have the feeling this is going to be the outrage that forces a change in the rules. Finally.