Ryan Carter
When the film production set for "American Pie 3" halted traffic and
parking a couple of months ago on a stretch of Honolulu Avenue,
Montrose Shopping Park merchants felt the lights, cameras and action
also affected business.
That's why merchants resolved to encourage smaller-scale projects
and more complete notice if filming is to be held Saturdays on
Honolulu Avenue.
"Saturday is the busiest day of the week," said Tom Russell, owner
of Andersen's Pet Shop. "It affects us because we don't end up with
the foot traffic we normally do."
Fortunately, Russell stressed, his business has its own parking
lot.
"It wasn't that big of a deal, but nobody from the production
company told us," said Claudia Shaffer, manager of Fiore, a home
decor store. "It's actually fun to have them up here, but usually,
you get yourself ready for that kind of thing so we don't end up
looking stupid to our customers."
When the "American Pie 3" shoot was in town, parking was blocked
and traffic through the area was stopped, merchants said.
At a Feb. 20 meeting, the Montrose Shopping Park Assn. agreed to
discourage large film production projects on Saturdays while
requiring notification of film shoots to all businesses in an
affected area.
"Last April, we put [filming] guidelines on paper," Shopping Park
board member John Drayman said. "But this was the first glitch we've
had."
The association develops its own policies on filming but bows to
the city of Glendale and state guidelines on the issuance of permits.
Generally, merchants are compensated by the film company based on
the level of use of a businesses.
Glendale code requires that everyone within 500 feet of a film
location be notified. But there were multiple shoots in the "American
Pie" project and some merchants in the area said they weren't
notified. To remedy the situation, the merchants resolved to make
sure all businesses in future projects sign off with the
association's filming coordinator. They also decided that in
discussions with production managers, the association will make clear
there is a moratorium on large-scale productions with frequent
stopping of traffic.
"Our focus is our merchants, Drayman said. "We want filming, but
the filming has to fit in."
Filming is not uncommon in the district. The recently released
comedy "Old School" featured a scene in which comedian Will Farrell's
character runs naked through the shopping park.
"There's no question it can be disruptive," said Kathleen Milnes,
senior vice president of public affairs at the Entertainment Industry
Development Corp., an organization formed by the city and county of
Los Angeles in partnership with the entertainment industry to
coordinate film permits for contracted cities. Glendale is not one of
them.
"We try to give the production companies what they need while
balancing that with the needs of neighborhoods and business
districts," Milnes said.
