Picture New York

[AftonGrant]

What you are basically saying is, if you don't have the money, you don't have the right to shoot. What does a million dollars of liability insurance cost in NYC. Do the new rules cover monpods? Does it account for disabled people who need to use camera support? Will the local unions get involved and threaten them like they do other non union productions?
We are talking very small crews aren't we? I don't buy the "danger to people argument" when a couple of individuals are trying to shoot.

I'm saying the rules are there to protect us and to protect others, and it is to everyone's benefit that they be followed. I don't know exactly, but I believe the insurance cost is in the $800 neighborhood. I do not know the fine details of the new rules. I have never had a problem with union harassment. The only time I've ever even heard of it second-hand is in the cases of union crew not reporting non-union work, and vice versa.

 

[krd]

I'm saying the rules are there to protect us and to protect others, and it is to everyone's benefit that they be followed.

This uproar is the result of the NYPD, in concert with the mayor's office, cooking up these "rules" without soliciting adequate public comment or heeding those comments when they came in. Unaccountable government is not a good basis for the rule of law, and there can be little expectation of compliance, when government ignores the governed.

And if safety is your highest interest, I'd note that the official studio and TV productions which clog the street and sidewalks in NYC present far greater threats to public safety than do the occasional shooters and informal productions. I'm talking about uncovered cables, loose gear, trucks pulled onto the sidewalk, stray dollies, untrained PAs directing crowd control, etc. Should we ban these productions as well?