Shooting in my Neighborhood

(I will post about my trip to Germany soon. As things stand now, I have not even gotten my pictures off my camera.)

As I was walking to work this morning, I noticed that there were "No Parking" signs taped up all over the place and an awning with people busily setting up a table under it. My first thought was that there was going to be a summer block party, but that seemed a little strange for a Tuesday. Walking on, I saw lots of trucks, rolls of thick wire, and what appeared to be a random assortment of pieces of scaffold and other equipment. Ah, another movie.

A young man with an unruly beard smiled at me from one of the many trucks lining the sidewalk as I passed by. "Are you all shooting something?" I asked him. (I know enough people involved in theater to say "shooting" and not "filming," and also not to be horrified when I hear someone say, "I shot a herd of lions in Africa," or "I shot an actress last night.") "Yeah, it's a show called Tutu," he replied. "Like ballet?" I asked, wondering why they'd pick this particular stretch of street. He laughed, "Sounds like it, but it's two-two like twenty-two, Precinct 22. It's a new cop show." 

I kept going, and as I rounded the corner I saw the cameras and several very attractive people dressed in full make-up and unusually spotless police uniforms hanging around a stoop, apparently waiting for things to start rolling. A middle-aged black man passed me, muttering to himself, "They got to take up the whole sidewalk, make people walk in the street." It did seem a bit presumptuous. I noticed a sign posted against a fence warning passers-by that if they ventured past that point, they were liable to end up in the background of the shot and may end up on TV, and that by proceeding any farther they were giving their consent. On the next block, there were a series of trailers lined up. One of the window shades wasn't pulled down completely and I caught a glimpse of one of those mirrors bordered by lights for doing theater make-up. Interesting. 

This made me consider my neighborhood. It's in an interesting state of flux, because no matter how many expensive brownstones are renovated, there's no getting rid of the huge housing projects just a block or two away. I've never felt that it was unsafe, and I like the mix of people inherent in a neighborhood that has both abundant low-income housing and a Whole Foods and a Sephora. And it makes for interesting experiences on the way to work.