HolyCoast: The Green Mile
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Thursday, February 16, 2012

The Green Mile

What green mile? The green bike lane that's killing the film business in downtown Los Angeles:
Of course, bike lanes are nothing new, although they always seemed to work out well enough without being painted a garish color. And this green is just so, well — green. Kind of a gimmick, right? But whatever. It's not like it does anyone any harm.

Except that it apparently does. That mile and a half of Spring Street turns out to be the most filmed stretch of street in town. Or rather, it was until about last November, when the green lane spoiled the shots that made Spring the perfect stand-in for Anytown, USA. It was the perfect street for car commercials, the perfect backdrop of stolid bank buildings, the perfect mix of marble columns and Art Deco spandrels, the perfect modern or 1920s downtown — until the wide green stripe appeared.

Now a lot of the filming has moved one block over to Main Street, according to Paul Audley, president of Film L.A. Inc., the organization that coordinates city and county film permits for the entertainment industry, which last time we checked is a pretty important part of the local economy. So, guess where the Department of Transportation was about to add the next green bike lane?
What a bunch of dummies.

3 comments:

Sam L. said...

Gee, I'da thought digital photography could just remove that green.

Rick Moore said...

I didn't include the part of the article that dealt with the issue of green screen technology. It turns out the particular shade of green required by law won't work with green screens and can't be digitally removed.

Sam L. said...

Bummer!