transit strike Tagged Articles at Cinematical

On the Filmmaker blog, Scott Macaulay ponders how the now-ending transit strike might have thus far impacted New York producers trying to hustle their features through post in time for Sundance. "Fortunately," he writes, "the project I'm working on is picture-locked and all elements are to the appropriate vendors. My worry is with the vendors and their employees, hoping that the strike doesn't slow them down." He goes on to ask others involved with NY productions, Sundance or otherwise, to shar their horror stories. The major catastrophe for us is that I missed two press screenings on the first day of the strike - Casanova and Rumor Has It – and will be able to write a straight review of neither. How should I handle this conundrum? What would you like to see instead? And if you have other movie-related strike stories, do tell. Now that it's all over it's time to take stock – and take the L train into city for the first time this week.

This just in to the Cinematical Newsroom! Harvey Weinstein is braving the transit strike-flooded streets of Manhattan! I just received the following string of text messages from Martha:

––I just walked past harvey weinstein. He was talking about 'splitting ten grand' - probably lunch plans.
––Well, it might have been Bob - are they both fat and unshaven?
––I just saw a pic of Bob - this was definitely Harv.

So what do you think Harvey Weinstein is splitting ten grand on? I say it has something to do with trying to fix opening grosses on The Matador.

Sometime around 12 this morning, the New York City Transport Workers Union went on strike, leaving millions of commuters SOL, and leaving me unable to get to the Rumor Has It all-media and stuck at Brooklyn-based Cinematical Headquarters indefinitely. But I'm not the only one banished to a borough; as noted earlier, Hayden Christensen and Jessica Alba are currently in New York City, working on a thriller called Awake for the Weinstein Company, and according to one of the film's producers, the stars were forced to spend last night in a cheap motel adjacent to Kaufman Astoria Studios. "I have hotel rooms on hold in Long Island City at a Comfort Inn right near the studio and carpools for much of the crew," Awake production manager Robin Sweet said. "All of the actors are very understanding." Or, at least, they will be until rabid Hayden fans crash their rooms looking for Baby Vader. Many other projects, including Ivan Reitman's Super Ex-Girlfriend and various Law and Order stallwarts, are on hold for the holidays, but Julie Taymor's Beatles musical Across the Universe (which was scheduled to beging shooting today) will likely be hit hard.  A co-producer on the film confirmed that even with carpools setup, the production's many dancers will probably have to hike to get to work.