NYC taxis in…. San Francisco?
Evidence of “Rent” production was all around South of Market today, and a prime example of that were 3-4 bright yellow NYC taxis parked on 3rd Street this afternoon. I saw lights, cameras, mics, all from our office’s vantage point. And I THINK I saw Rosario Dawson, but I can’t be sure. I’m not sure I get why Rent director Chris Columbus decided on SF instead of NY — it sure wasn’t the fog, I’ll tell ya that much. Still, it’s a tad exciting having all these film cameras about, since I’m still pretty wide-eyed gee-whiz about this kinda crap.
I took some pics of the taxis with the camera (no actors, alas) — shall upload once I get home. Pic uploaded! The pic shows the NYC taxis getting rounded up on the truck at the end of the day.
According to an interview I saw with Dawson, production realities forced the shoot out here instead of in New York. Though people here may think the city has its share of traffic, if you’ve ever been to NYC, you know we ain’t got no grounds for complaint out here.
Also – since so much of their storyline takes place at night, and the New York neighborhoods called for in the script are very residential, San Francisco’s resident-free (or at least less-residential) areas were going to be more friendly to loud, sustained, movie production.
It’s quite common for movie and TV productions to substitute one locale for another. My hometown, San Pedro, frequently doubles for San Francisco (watch The Rock again – all those shots that don’t seem like SF aren’t – they’re actually shot in San Pedro).
It’s quite an economic problem for the state, actual. Production flight over the past decade or so to places such as Vancouver and Toronto hurt the California film industry tremendously (those cities undertook to attract production by enacting producer-friendly tax breaks and other union-related benefits). 9/11 and it’s consequent travel-delaying security measurers have made productions stay home more frequently, but the problems is far from solved . . . .
doesn’t hurt that Chris Columbus is also a SF resident…