Lights, camera ... boarding up my front door
Last week, a film crew boarded up the front door to my apartment while I was inside, blocking my exit.
The night before, a security guard on set interrupted my solo evening walk and accuses me of stealing props.
That's show business in Hamilton, baby!
Well, no. As the handful of people involved in this shoot and Hamilton's film scene later explained apologetically, it's not.
My case appears to be an outlier, but filming in Hamilton is indeed a divisive topic.
Hamiltonians who spoke with me for this story detailed negative experiences that ranged from crews taking over pricey parking spots to loud and bright late night shoots to film truck armies that take over neighbourhoods.
But they also described the joy of watching a film come to life, the generosity of casts and crews, and the excitement a film shoot injects into a neighbourhood.
Love it or hate it, film shoots are a part of life in Hamilton.
This year alone, a total of 74 different productions have registered to film in the city, according to city staff. All told, there have been a jaw-dropping 1,208 total days worth of filming in 2021 so far - multiple shoots per day bring the city to this figure.
Filming is a big money-maker for the city. Local shoots brought in approximately $59 million in revenue in 2020, the city said.
But take a few dozen - or hundred - out-of-town cast and crew, plop them into a busy city, add some film trucks, props, and the usual pedestrian and vehicle traffic, and a few clashes are bound to emerge.
For downtown-dweller Sandra Chiovitti, her main complaint is with the disappearing parking.
Chiovitti and her partner pay $150 a month for a parking spot near their apartment. When crews roll into town, they sometimes finds themselves void of the spot if the lot is co-opted by the crew. Sometime crews find a way to accommodate them - scouting out another spot to park - other times they're on their own.
They've also been subjected to motorcycles roaring on nearby sets after midnight, bright lights pouring into the apartment after dark and, most recently, a crane popping up right outside their window.
Most of it they laugh off.
Having activity is not a bad thing," Chiovitti said, noting she's glad to see money coming into the city and people working, especially during the pandemic. I think the good outweighs the nuisances."
Delta East resident Melissa Crawford has mixed reviews of neighbourhood film shoots.
The good: When Umbrella Academy" was shooting near her home in 2019, local kids organized a bake sale fundraiser for a schoolmate whose home was damaged in a fire. Cast and crew chipped in and they ended up raising a few hundred dollars.
The bad: When she previously lived near a popular east-end filming spot years ago, one particularly disrespectful film crew lined the road of her neighbourhood with vehicles, blocking driveways and traffic, on and off for a week. The crew left litter and a bad taste in residents' mouths.
I was just annoyed," Crawford said, acknowledging she and neighbours didn't hide their displeasure. Because they were so inconsiderate, I didn't extend anyone any grace."
Celebrity sightings add bulk to the good" category.
Dundas residents were giddy when the late Robin Williams came to town. He spent every break chatting with locals, recalls Phyllis Kraemer, film liaison contact for the Downtown Dundas BIA.
Kerry Jarvi, executive director of the Downtown Hamilton BIA, says 95 per cent" of film crews are great. When they work with her team and follow the approved plans, things go smoothly. When they don't, they don't.
The main complaints she hears are crews that get greedy with parking spots and shoots that are too bright or too loud too late at night. When businesses are inconvenienced - entrances blocked or shoots taking place inside - they're usually compensated financially by the people behind the production, she said.
Residents, however, aren't typically cut cheques for their misfortune.
When it comes to resident complaints that find their way into city voicemails and inboxes, most are about parking or people not being properly notified of shoots ahead of time, said city spokesperson Michelle Shantz. Typically, residents receive a notification letter a few days in advance.
What the city can't say is how many complaints come in, or when. They don't track that. The city's film office tells The Spectator it will consider tracking complaints.
It appears I am the first Hamiltonian to have had their door boarded up for a shoot - or at least the first to complain to the city.
I did manage to escape, by the way. When I discovered the front door blocked, I ran back up the stairs and escaped out my back door. Out front, a very apologetic film crew found someone with a drill and pulled apart the nailed-together plywood.
The location manager later apologized in a phone call. Boarding up the door was a mistake, he said, one that will never happen again. He offered to make things right with a gift card to a local restaurant, a gesture that was appreciated, but one I declined.
He also apologized for incident the previous night when the security guard stopped me for allegedly stealing from the set. For the record, I didn't.
All's well that ends well.
Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com