Aug 02 2008
Hollywood in Ann Arbor
Hollywood descended upon Ann Arbor, if only briefly, these past couple of weeks. It was in town filming Youth in Revolt, starring actors you have actually heard of: Michael Cera, Justin Long (Mac in those Apple commercials), Steve Buscemi, Ray Liotta, and others. This was a direct result of a package of incentives offered by the State of Michigan to woo film productions, which includes rebating up 40% of the business taxes paid by the studios, plus an additional 2% if the production is filmed in any of over 100 “core communities”, of which Ann Arbor is one. Your tax dollars at work, subsidizing some millionaire actor’s payday.
Scenes from the movie were being shot just a block from my office, but the streets were blocked off and it was difficult to see what they were doing much of the time. Mostly it seemed like a lot of people standing around all day. A lot of security was provided by the Ann Arbor police, plus a lot of rent-a-cops. They also completely took over one parking lot and much of another, making parking even more difficult than it normally is.
Yesterday, they burned a travel trailer, causing much excitement for passers-by. The picture at the top is the end of the fire, the picture below is off the Ann Arbor Fire Department mopping up.
