Fox Broadcasting Company’s filming of a new television
pilot upset some Westwood merchants earlier this week, but the
studio is working to resolve the conflicts arising from the
production.
Some business owners say that filming of Fox’s TV comedy
pilot “Queen B,” which is being directed by Danny
DeVito, has hurt business through traffic and pedestrian
restrictions, overcrowding in two nearby parking lots and rubbish
left over from the filming.
“It’s wrong to have a business that puts out other
businesses,” said Sandy Brown, president of the
Holmby-Westwood Property Owners Association. “Those
businesses are mom-and pop shops that rely on people walking into
their stores.”
The studio had given store owners notification of the filming on
Westwood Boulevard and Broxton, Glendon and Kinross avenues that
has been going on throughout the week. But some believe they were
misled to the actual conditions of the filming.
“They completely lied to us,” said Steven Brower,
owner of Damon and Pythias on Broxton Avenue. “Our business
was cut to half of what it normally is.”
Brower said that he agreed to allow filming in his restaurant to
be done before he opened shop that Monday morning, but the crew was
still in the restaurant well into the afternoon. They also
requested that he turn down his restaurant’s music and took
up tables that were meant for customers, he said.
Upon receiving complaints from Westwood merchants, filming
manager Bruce Chudacoff dispatched some of his film crew to
apologize to affected store owners and pledged to open better lines
of communication with merchants.
“To do something as horrendous as suggested would be
against our policy,” he said, referring to breaking the
agreement between the merchants and the studio.
Chudacoff said that the disagreement was the result of
miscommunication with businesses. Filming was initially intended to
last only during Monday morning, but they had told store owners
that they would be taking longer, he added.
In the filming notification, Fox said that “occasional
traffic and pedestrian control” would be enforced, but
restaurant owners said that they were blocking foot traffic for up
to 15 minutes at a time.
Having to wait that long to simply walk across the street to his
store discouraged many potential visitors who then ate at other
restaurants instead, Brower said.
Chudacoff said that restricting pedestrians through the street
during filming was a necessary part of filming and that they were
attempting to limit access as little as possible.
Other store owners said the use of the two nearby parking lots
by the crew negatively affected their business.
“They closed the parking lot and prevented others from
parking,” said Ali Shazri, owner of Ali Hair Salon on Kinross
Avenue.
The use of the two parking lots by the studio caused customers
to be unable to find parking when visiting his hair salon, he
said.
Though he wanted to keep the spots open for visitors, there was
nowhere else nearby to park besides the two lots, Chudacoff
said.
Shazri said that the filming crew left garbage on his patio that
he had to clean up himself after they had left. He believes the
filming cost him thousands of dollars in lost time and sales.
Chudacoff said that the rubbish Shazri found on his patio could
be from any number of sources, and the crew was sure to clean up
any leftover garbage.
While some stores on the streets where filming was taking place
were given monetary compensation, Shazri said that he received none
and would continue to call the studio until he received some form
of payment.
Instead of having a detrimental affect on the area, the filming
would attract more visitors to the Village through the publicity it
generated, Chudacoff said. Chudacoff said the movie
“Sideways” generated so much interest toward its
filming locations in Santa Ynez that AAA created road maps just for
those interested in learning more about where it was shot.
Brown said no clear evidence of increased sales or traffic flow
from movies has been proven for Westwood shops.