One Brooklyn Neighborhood Gets A Break From All That Filming

And we think there’s a lot of filming here! A section of Brooklyn Heights has been granted a reprieve from film and TV production after a year of requests from the Brooklyn Heights Association and involvement from area Councilmember Stephen Levin, according to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. In December 2012, the paper wrote:

“In October and November alone, the community played host to at least 14 different productions, including at least three major motion pictures,” Levin said. “Last Wednesday, two films, ‘Delivery Man’ and ‘Winter’s Tale,’ were granted filming permits on the same day and were allowed to hold up to eight blocks of parking.”

Over the summer, the Councilmember introduced a bill that would require monthly and yearly reports from the New York City Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting with more information about film production across the five boroughs. In December, a decision was handed down to temporarily halt shoots from Columbia Heights and Henry Street and Clark Street to Cranberry Street.

As in Ditmas Park, much of the issue with filming has to do with parking; an unnamed Brooklyn Heights resident complained to the paper last year about losing 72 hours’ worth of parking on Grace Court Alley so that a crew could film a single scene.

Councilmember Levin said he believes residents of a predominantly residential neighborhood should not lose so much parking so regularly to shoots. In addition to the lack of parking, residents have lamented idling trucks, garbage, and the presence of Porta Potties–but now that it’s been designated a “Film Hot Zone,” North Brooklyn Heights will be crew-free for at least, as the NYOFTB told Councilmember Levin in an email, “a few months.”

Between the amount of parking taken up, the other disturbances caused by shoots, and the frequency with which you have to deal with it, do you think Ditmas Park qualifies as a Hot Zone? Should we have a break from filming, or do you like seeing movie magic in our neck of the woods?