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ABC to film pilot for Southie crime series with a distaff twist
By adamg on Mon, 03/16/2015 - 11:33pm
Steve Schult noticed this notice on K Street tonight about a pilot ABC plans to film in South Boston about Boston's first crop of women cops in the 1970s. Deadline Hollywood describes the premise:
Dubbed “The Broad Squad” by the local press, they arrived at a tumultuous time in Boston’s history, marked by corruption within the police force and a heightened organized crime presence in the city. Navigating rival neighborhoods as well as the conflicting attitudes toward them from everyone, they find themselves tested both on and off duty.
Deadline Hollywood adds the co-producer/writer is a graduate of "Boston-based Harvard University."
The site updates us about the pilot's male lead:
Spector plays Tommy Anthony, a scruffy, sideburned, loose cannon of a cop who sidles up to Lisa at a bar, unprepared for her outpouring of vitriol.
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Comments
Does the rest of the world
Seriously not understand that there is a river here with large grouping of famous universities on both sides?
(Deep breath before I unleash an outpouring of vitriol over not only total lack of geographical knowledge, but the title of this pilot!)
Title
The title isn't their own. It was the name from the 70s newspapers.
Also, if they went to the business school, then they went to Boston-based Harvard.
Allston.
Allston. Allston-based Harvard. Also, it's being filmed in the Southie section of Dorchestah. By broads wearing brars.
Lower Allston
Lower Allston-based Harvard.
/further picking of nits
Says them
I don't remember any Boston paper in the '70s using the term "broad" to refer to women. Perhaps some regular reader of the Herald can educate me.
Dapper O'Neil
Is currently unavailable for comment.
Dapper O'Neill
... is still dead.
I think you'll have better luck with the Globe
After all, it is a broadsheet.
Albeit boring.
Albeit boring.
Cambridge is a suburb of Boston
and The LA times more often than not refers to Cambridge as a Boston suburb. But at least they recognize it as a separate city. or 'burb. ha.
Great
Another chance to hear really bad Boston accents
"Wickit bad" Boston accents.
"Wickit bad" Boston accents.
Say That Again
Once Around era Holly Hunter and Quiz Show era Rob Morrow are taking notes. Martin Sheen is too tired so he's just listening to JFK's speeches because of course everyone in Boston talks like a New York and Hyannis raised Harvard student.
As opposed to?
As opposed to good Boston accents? They all sound wicked bad, guy.
And where are you from...
...where the dialect is perfect?
Spain
Thought I wouldn't have an answer for that one, didntya?!?!
Don't be jealous!
Don't be jealous!
I feel your pain...
On the rare occasion when a movie is filmed in my hometown of Philadelphia, they always have the actors talk like they're straight out of Flatbush. Anyone who's spent five minutes in Philly knows that's not how we talk.
Same old far-fetched,
Same old far-fetched, embarrassing to watch, stereotypical view by mainstream media of South Boston. I demand they pay for the relocation parking of residents' cars.
Join the club, don't hold your breath
Perhaps when "mainstream media" has learned not to perpetuate far-fetched, embarrassing to watch, stereotypes about much larger groups like women, people of color, gays, etc., they'll have some bandwidth to devote to getting all the nuances of one neighborhood in one city right.
oh good
Now they can film on location, on the street, with cars from the 1970s
and if anyone walks near the shooting these stuck up film people can scream at the townies to get out of the shot and that they are 'trespassing' on a film set. I'm sure that'll go over well.
(sorry this happened to me on Saturday in the Financial District a year or so ago, where I promptly told the film person to 'take a hike' and 'it's a public street' and 'get the detail cop over here to tell me that'. Needless to say, none of that was done. She was none too happy.)
Bicycle Tires
When I worked on the Swan Boats the Spenser For Hire PA's yelled down to us from the bridge in the Public Garden to be quiet on the dock because they were filming. They were really just sound and light checking, but that wasn't the point, we were just working our normal day. No Laker fans were going to mess with us.
Once the cameras start rolling with a filler shot of Robert Urlich and whomever walking up through the Garden we would roll a bicycle tire through the shot and hope they lost light with the next take. We'd hear cut and laugh.
I'm kind of done with tax credit induced loss of parking spaces in the city. Go to Toronto and muck up our accents there.
Employment
"I'm kind of done with tax credit induced loss of parking spaces in the city. Go to Toronto and muck up our accents there."
I hope you lose your employment and livelihood too, John.
Sorry - The World Needs Ditch Diggers Too
Work? To work in the story telling business is a choice. Last time I checked there weren't press gangs taking people unwillingly off of Columbus Avenue to be gaffers and set designers. I would love to sit around and play songs on the radio all day, but then I want to pay my bills.
We are giving away tax dollars so ABC, you know Disney, which has a stock up 230% under Robert Iger, can make money off of me.
Sorry, you want to work in the pretend business, make money without tax credits like the rest of us.
thanks
I was gonna saying that... the movie and TV industry is volatile. It can change as quickly as the wind direction can. Sometimes you work, sometimes you don't.
But when you work in that industry, you realize this and realize that the gravy train isn't always going to come in and you may have to move elsewhere to get work.
It's just how it is.
No
That is not "just how it is".
Sometimes research can actually help provide answers rather than just relying on what you think something is about.
I mean, I could say "When people read your comment, they realize you're talking out of your ass - because that's where your head is. It's just how it is." But there's a chance that's not the case and I don't have evidence to prove my words, so I won't and don't say it.
Tax dollars.
What about the non-pretend money put into the economy when wardrobe is purchased at scores of department stores in the state? Or the non-pretend money directly put into the economy when props are purchased at scores of stores? What about the non-pretend money directly pumped into the economy purchasing lumber and supplies at stores for the purpose of building sets? What about the non-pretend money paid out to caterers and locations and detail officers? What about the non-pretend money paid to hotels and rental car companies? What about the non-pretend money used to pay for motorhomes and equipment vehicles such as tow-trucks and water trucks? What about the bars and restaurants used for meals (paid for by non-pretend money) when various members of the crew go during lunches or after work? All those companies seem to enjoy taking all that non-pretend money and putting it back into the state economy themselves. SO MUCH PRETEND!!
Keep your blinders on and wishing unemployment for your fellow citizens, your empathy is charming.
Ha!
All of those things are pennies compared to the money we give them (not give them back...they don't pay it to us for a rebate, we literally give them money to film here). Also, so much of today's movie is cued in as after effect. Lumber for sets?? When was the last time anyone built a serious set? This isn't Gone With the Wind. They even shoot OUTDOORS shots with green screens up!
You're obviously much more of
You're obviously much more of an expert on the movie business than the guy who actually works in it.
"All of those things are
"All of those things are pennies compared to the money we give them."
First of all, you're making is sound as production companies are profiting off the state - as though no money is being spent by production companies. The state does NOT "literally" give production companies money to film here. You just made you and your argument look stupid.
Secondly of all: "so much of today's movie is cued in as after effect. Lumber for sets?? When was the last time anyone built a serious set?" Thank you. This statement alone shows you're COMPLETELY ignorant of this topic. Congratulations on your knee-jerk sensibility, your knee has just hit you on your chin.
I could give you countless examples to your asinine question, but considering how stupid you just made yourself look, they'd pass right over your head. You really are stupid. That question of yours was just so amazingly stupid, I can't believe it.
Small potatoes
Your $6M in ALL set construction costs for 2012 don't impress me much. I used hyperbole to exemplify the fact that you didn't build replicas of places just to film TV and movies in Boston. "Ted 2" was filmed at the Mill Pond Diner in Wareham not a sound stage. You frame walls, you don't build entire palaces any more to film a movie.
Do you know how much was spent in 2012 in MA on all that bullshit you listed in your previous post? Lumber, food, props, costumes, etc...all total: $50M, give or take a million or two. That's not even spending that remained in MA in 2012. Even less than that went to MA vendors: just $30M. We gave the production companies a total of $75M of our own money to play with in 2012.
That $75M got spent on wages and a few other things too. But for every production that comes here, they spend about 1/3rd of their costs in-state and the rest out-of-state but get to include all of it in their claims for credits. They've gotten credit based on $1.65B in spending over the 7 years we have been giving tax credits and have public records/summaries of the spending...of which only $0.556B actually got spent in MA over those 7 years! And we've paid out about $0.411B in tax credits, leaving us just BARELY above water on the value of these credits. In other words, we'd do about the same if the state just gave your lumber, prop, food companies the same money and hired the set construction workers, prop builders, costumers, caterers to feed and cloth the homeless and build our roads.
Also, in the 2012 report, there's language suggesting that 2013 would be the first year we paid out more credits than we took in in revenue. Can't wait for that report to hit the reporting website...maybe that's why Baker's ready to phase out the tax credit.
I get it. You're offended that I exaggerated just how little set construction means to the movies ($4M locally of the $300M in total spending..woohoo!). That's small potatoes. You're focusing on a trivial portion of my comment because it's easy to be offended by it since I was being outrageous and you think you can make it out to be that it shows me ignorant or something. I don't care if you have to knock together a few dozen set changes a week. The end result is the big picture: we spend too much and gain too little to have stupid TV shows like a pilot for "The Broad Squad" getting free money to make another shitty Boston-based concept.
Tell me this: If the film credit doesn't exist, does the producer of "The Broad Squad" even *consider* this a worthwhile venture when proposed to him?
Yes, we do literally give them money
It's a common misconception that the state only gives back taxes paid by the production companies.
NO.
The state gives cold hard cash - 25% of what a production company spends in the state, what they call a Production Expense Credit- not 25% of the taxes it pays, 25% of the money it spends. If a production company pays Ryan Reynolds $2 million to star in a movie, $500,000 comes out of the state's coffers. Cash.
You can hem and haw and claim otherwise, but those are the facts. That's how the program runs.
The production companies also receive sales and payroll tax credits but those are, like people say, those are rebates on taxes paid. Companies can receive 25% of payroll taxes back and 100% of sales taxes paid.
http://www.mafilm.org/mass-film-tax-credit-law-in-a-nutshell/
(If you get into the nitty-gritty, you'll see that, actually, the production companies can receive up to 90% of the 25% back from the state, or offer the credit to other companies within the state with tax liabilities.)
Yes and no
The rules say that if a "high cost employee" (or some similar language) meaning anyone making over $1M/production gets paid, they don't qualify in the wages for the credit. This prevents them from *directly* recovering a star's salary from MA coffers. However, if it means they have an extra $0.5M to pay Ryan Reynolds because they got it in cash from having paid for $2M worth of set construction and food services, well...so be it.
Just stop.
I've been working on and building sets for over 15 years. You literally have no idea of what you speak.
I know you're angry but educate yourself before you go on the offensive.
Boston On Location in Elsewhere
Yes let's have more notBoston as ImpostorBoston.
Like Leverage? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leverage_%28TV_series%29
Gawd, I can't even watch - it hurts my brain!
Without a cause, huh?
OMG! You're SUCH a badass rebel!!
yeah
such a rebel wanting to walk in a public street! you know, ones that my tax dollars pay for, and that these movie companies do not.
Oh jeebus
Yes they do pay taxes.
They just get some of it back.
Jaywaking
So you were walking in the street? That's likely jaywalking and illegal. Good thing there wasn't a detail officer there, you might have received a ticket.
You're an idiot. You're
You're an idiot. You're misinterpreting what someone else said.
I thought you were here to convince us that movie and TV production was a good idea, but you're not winning any friends with this post.
Where's the misinterpretation?
The statement was: "wanting to walk in a public street! you know, ones that my tax dollars pay for, and that these movie companies do not."
Their point was they wanted to "walk in a public street". If they want to make a point, they should be clear about it, but they can't because their true point is clouded by their ignorance.
And here's another tip, "anon", I'm not looking to make friends with those who openly brag about them being poor employees nor do I want to befriend those who spew "facts" without knowing anything about the subject. I don't need to befriend people who proudly desire others to lose their jobs and businesses. Those are not people I need as friends, because those are people without decency. You are the idiot for thinking those with no humanity are worth befriending.
"Walk in a public street" is
"Walk in a public street" is an expression that can include walking on the sidewalk. And you're nitpicking over jaywalking laws, while ignoring the main point about being harassed by film crew staff.
This won't win support for your claims that film crews should be welcome here.
The main point about "being
The main point about "being harassed by film crew staff" is faulty at the outset. When you're being asked to hold up before walking into a certain spot, it's not "harassment", it's a warning. You see, maybe it's a warning that a high speed car is going to be passing by and if you were to walk blindly across that street that YOU PAY FOR WITH YOUR TAXES, you'd be hit by the high speed car.
In a similar scenario, a utility crew cutting tree branches overhead or perhaps working underground in a trench might ask you to hold up before passing or to perhaps not pass by this area. I can't fathom people saying utility crews should lose their jobs and livelihood because of this minor and temporary annoyance. I don't hear people telling stories with great amusement about harassing utility crews (by, ohhhh, maybe rolling bicycle tires through their work zone).
Asking people to hold up for a moment before crossing or using an entrance, or perhaps asking them to use another point of entry is not harassment. The person who rudely yells at a production assistant who has asked them to wait for a moment (while also acknowledging they wouldn't rudely yell at a detail officer asking the same) is the one harassing.
Jaywalking
I believe the fine for a jaywalking ticket (which you REALLY would have to work hard to get) is a dollar. Well worth it if you want to make some people's job a little harder, and you may very well feel justified in doing that.
$1 for the first, second and third offenses in a calendar year
$2 for fourth and subsequent offenses in a calendar year
Want some cheese with that whine?
Wow, you had one spat over a year ago when someone asked you to not walk through their shoot, and you're still carrying that log-sized chip around on your shoulder? Your right to walk in a public street surely has been significantly impaired, once "a year or so ago".
By way of contrast, there's a construction project near my office, on Washington Street in DTX, that takes up:
...and it's done so for a lot more than a few hours on one day. No end in sight on this baby. I'm sure you also routinely run into construction projects that take out a section of sidewalk or street. So why aren't you bellyaching about them? They cause a lot more inconvenience and definitely impede people's "right to walk in a public street" much more than some film shoot. So why no complaints from you about that?
Your complaint is absurd and all out of proportion, and it's making you look like a fool.
And when that "inconvenient"
construction project in DTX is completed, the city will have a sustainable development that will make continued contributions to the local economy.
However, once the production company finishes their movie shoots and leaves, that's it.
Perhaps instead of abolishing the Holywood tax credits entirely, we should rewrite the law so that the state gets a percentage of the gross profits the production earns as well. And, oh, require the production company to use the actual logos and names for things like the MBTA, BPD, and the like as well.
Presumptuous movie employees
“and if anyone walks near the shooting these stuck up film people can scream at the townies to get out of the shot and that they are 'trespassing' on a film set. I'm sure that'll go over well. (sorry this happened to me on Saturday in the Financial District a year or so ago, where I promptly told the film person to 'take a hike' and 'it's a public street' and 'get the detail cop over here to tell me that'. Needless to say, none of that was done. She was none too happy.)
"When I worked on the Swan Boats the Spenser For Hire PA's yelled down to us from the bridge in the Public Garden to be quiet on the dock because they were filming."
These film people seem to think they can do this. It also happened to me in Harvard Square a few years ago when they were filming some movie or other on and around Dunster Street. Some self inflated woman kept yelling at passers by "move it people, we're making a movie here!". As if this is somehow impressive and people living and working in the area are supposed to listen to them.
Yup
This is what annoyed me. We were just walking by.. we weren't looking for a movie set to walk on to, I was showing some out of towners where I work in DTX.
It was the audacity and attitude of the way I was 'told to keep moving' because 'making a movie was so important'. Maybe if she wasn't such a jackass about it, or a detailed cop told me, I wouldn't have put up a fight. But if you're nasty toward me for no reason, I'm going to dish it it back at you.
I hope...
...that happens to me someday. Nothing would make my day more than to stand there laughing while some assistant to an assistant to the assistant of the assistant's assistant, who's getting nothing but a stipend to work on the set, had a melt down because there is literally nothing they can do to me if I'm miding my own business on a public street.
Do you really think...
...that they've never before dealt with people who feel the need to show off in public how blase and unimpressed they are about this whole movie business? You might break someone's irony meter with a self-important self-aggrandizing bit of showing off in which you rant about someone else's sense of self-importance, but you're unlikely to cause anyone to "have a melt down". They've dealt with jerks before.
Interns
Clearly they have any number of interns who have not dealt with people who expect to access the door of their workplace on a workday, and have the gall to just do so!
I'm sorry, but the answer to "when can I get across" is never "well, we are shooting a moooovie ALL DAY and you'll have to come back tomorrow". Even the detail cops laugh at them.
"any number"?
So, let's get the number, Swirly. How many times has this happened to you?
Really, given that you weren't actually impeded from doing anything, isn't all this armwaving just a lot of manufactured outrage?
I work downtown
This has happened to me, my husband, and a number of coworkers. I'm sure Cybah, working downtown as well, can vouch.
Not outrage - just amusement. Sad little college students, working for food.
Sorry, lbb, if your internships as an unpaid vogon have been made so difficult by us taxpaying folk not listening when told to come back tomorrow to go to work.
"Sorry, if your internships
"Sorry, if your internships as an unpaid...."
This is a subtle/not-so-subtle attempt at an insult. Clever worded in such a way so when called out on it, Swirly can claim complete innocence.
"...made so difficult by us taxpaying folk...."
Another attempt at a little dig, but only results in showing ignorance of the matter. You see, the person locking-up at that street corner IS a "taxpaying folk". In fact, all those technicians and props people and wardrobe people and camera people and the people behind the scenes in the production offices and accounting offices, they are all taxpaying folk. I know you won't believe that, but surprise, surprise.
Oh, stop being an idiot
Wow. You know, if you were to spend all night thinking of how to reveal your own intellectual dishonesty in one sentence, you probably could not top this. Here we have:
...and that's just one sentence. We haven't even discussed the additional gratuitous (and extremely poorly aimed) insults or the intellectually dishonest avoidance of the question being posed. I'm not asking you to get out the electron microscope, Swirl, just give me an order of magnitude approximation (ooh, did I use a big word there?) of how many times this has actually happened to you. Self-righteous fantasies of telling other people off don't count -- give an honest and realistic estimate of the number of times this has actually happened to you.
And then get a grip. You and cybah are both indulging in a great deal of complaining about something that just hasn't had a big impact on your lives. Shake it off and move on, you'll be happier.
You are correct, the answer
You are correct, the answer to "when can I get across" is never "well, we are shooting a moooovie ALL DAY and you'll have to come back tomorrow". Would you like to create some other imaginary comments that never happened? Maybe cut-and-paste some random dialogue so it looks like you were spoken to in a most-impolite manner by a person of your choosing? Ha ha! Great fun!
Imaginary comments
I believe you have been the one making those, dear anon.
In case you haven't noticed, multiple posters are repeating similar stories.
Then again, as a movie industry employee, you are probably used to make-believe, including your make-believe paychecks based on some fantasy carrot of someday being paid professionally.
Since you're focused on truth and accuracy...
You're not responding to a "dear anon", Swirly.
Who the hell pissed in your cheerios, anyway? Why this stupid vendetta against the film industry? Why are you making up so much bullshit about other people?
Dear anon
He's a dear anon inasmuch as anyone can be GrooPunk if they'd like by simply not logging in and writing GrooPunk in the "Your name" field.
I've been on both sides of this
My friend and I were bodysurfing early one morning in California. Pristine conditions. The movie people had actually taken most of our usual parking but we found an unsigned spot.
We were in the water catching epic waves and there were a bunch of PA's (production assistants- they aren't interns) on the beach trying to coax or threaten us out of water. We ignored them and got out of water when we wanted.
I think they shot with us in the background.
Years later I worked on movies for years in Boston. I I've seen the locations department and PA's interact with 1000's of people.
I've never seen them be rude or douchey ever UNLESS the cameras are rolling. There are tens of thousands of dollars at stake in those shots and they're doing their job making sure shot isn't interrupted.
And the cops aren't just on detail. They're liaisons for the shoot. You fuck around with a legit film crew the cop is going after you, not laughing with you.
Don't like it? Tell the city who approved it. Don't blame the film peeps who went thru all the permitting and licensing needed for their work.
They're also filming scenes in Lynn
I received two notices for an ABC pilot filming in two different parts of Lynn. Today, they are supposed to be at Christies by the Nahant Rotary, but I wonder if rain canceled.
Our notices didn't go so far as to explain what the show was about, though. Interesting idea. I hope it works.
We also have a pretend Kmart for Joy, the movie about the Miracle Mop woman - or maybe that's Kay's Baptism, and recently, Lynn was a stand-in for Southie for Black Mass.
There's so many, I'm losing track. I'm not really a Hollywood fan but I don't mind it, really. I've even had to wait before I could enter my own apartment building for a scene to shoot.
What an original concept! A tv show about cops in Southie.
That groan you heard was me when I read that they'd be filming near Murphy's Law. That poor bar: haven't they suffered enough?
This is the same TV / Film
This is the same TV / Film industry that brings us Survivor, Big Brother, and Mission Impossible 3000. Original ideas have nothing to do with it.
I was at the rehearsal shot
I was at the rehearsal shot of Gone Baby Gone at Murphy's Law. The producers were actually really cool about the community, probably from Ben's influence. Hell, the extras in the scene on film are actual regulars. They encouraged people to just go about their day while shooting because the film was partly an homage to the city.
Some of them are cool
There was an entire street that was sort of unfinished when they were building something large by North Station. I liked to cut through there on my folding bike when I took the commuter rail into town.
While this was still unbuilt on, it tended to house a little village of movie types with their trailers and tents. I ended up chatting with some actors and crew one morning about the bike. They popped out of a trailer to flag me down. They were thinking about buying some for getting around their locations, and had some questions about how it folded, how much space, etc. while inviting me to share the buffet breakfast.
I have, however, had a few encounters with the self-appointed turf bosses and did as y'all did: ignored them and went to work.
What if you don't want to play?
So what happens to the resident who doesn't want to move his/her car? Does it get towed? Under whose authority?
I don't live in the neighborhood, so I've got no skin in the game; I'm just curious. The last time there was a film being shot in my neighborhood, they glared at me when I walked through the set every day, but didn't try too hard to enforce their "no walking on public sidewalks" rule.
My guess...
...is that they pay for the space just like someone does if they're moving.
Good answer
Ah, that would make sense. Never even thought of that. Thanks!
Support trucks on Federal
Exactly - the studios get the permits and post "no parking" with dates on it, just as construction and moving vans do. I saw this on Federal St., when crews were filming a couple of things in the area last summer. This wasn't for filming the street, but for space to park all the support stuff (catering trucks, gear trucks, etc.)
In NYC, they tow cars for
In NYC, they tow cars for movie shoots...and leave them in nearby legal spaces, with no fine for the owner. They post a number to call if you need help finding your car.
Remove Snow?
I want to know what they mean by "When we finish filming on K Street, we will remove the snow from the street."
If that means they'll plow the snow that remains there from our storms, that's not too bad. It will open up a few more spaces, in all likelihood.
I have a feeling it means, "For shooting purposes, we're going to use a snowmaking machine to lay down nice-looking white snow because the stuff there now is nasty. We'll remove it afterwards."
Anyone know?
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Blizzard of '78
The scene being filmed takes place during the 1978 Blizzard. Snow is going to be trucked in, piled up and spread on the street and sidewalk. The neighbors were promised that the snow would be removed after filming. Production companies have a low track record when it comes to promises kept so we have to keep an eye on this one.
Anybody With Good News?
Or bad news? Was the snow removed? How was the crew?
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Why is everyone being so
Why is everyone being so bitchy? It's not that hard to be nice.
I was walking my *awesome* Australian Cattle Dog in the public garden last fall and two dudes told me there was some sort of shoot on the bridge across the lagoon and we'd have to walk around. I did not like their tone, explained it was a public park and if he didn't like it he could go get a police officer.
Which they promptly did. She, the police officer, perhaps more politely than she needed to, explained to me that they had a permit and I was in fact not allowed to walk through for a whole hour.
I think it's kind of cool that we have stuff produced in the city. *What* is the big freaking deal, Jebus people like to complain here.
I think you've answered your
I think you've answered your own question. The big deal is the terrible attitudes these people exhibit towards the residents of the filming area. You just described your own experience with it.
Another "these people" comment
...and we know how valid those are.
Would it make any difference
Would it make any difference if I had said "film crew" instead? Or are you just grasping at straws?