"Teamsters’ alleged slurs raise doubts about film tax credit" August 27, 2014
The Teamsters who allegedly slashed tires and hurled racist, sexist, and antigay epithets
at a “Top Chef” filming site in Milton in June ought to consider how
much they stand to lose if their offensive antics cause the public to
lose faith in the Massachusetts film industry. The state program, which
subsidizes 25 percent of movie and TV production costs, has ambitious
goals of promoting the state’s global image and spurring the local
creative economy. But in practice, one of the chief beneficiaries of the
subsidies, which totaled $44 million
in 2011, are the laborers who move and assemble equipment. That’s work
that Teamsters members demand, and often get. But if taxpayers conclude
from incidents like the one in Milton that bullying bigots feel entitled
to their tax-credit money, the incentive program’s days will probably
be numbered.
I opposed it from the beginning. Why should this state be giving away tax dollars to profitable Hollywood (or letting them sell them to others)? So they will come here and make movies while our services get cut?
First reported by Deadline.com, the June incident involved a Teamsters protest outside Steel & Rye restaurant in Milton, where “Top Chef” was filming an episode for its next season. Teamsters picketed because the show had hired nonunion personnel to transport equipment. “We’re gonna bash that pretty face in, you [expletive] whore,” one Teamster allegedly screamed at the show’s host, Padma Lakshmi. Residents also reported that about 10 car tires were slashed. The Teamsters denied the account — “as far as we’re concerned, it didn’t happen,” a spokeswoman said — but defended their right to protest the production.
They do have the right to protest, but the public also has the right to wonder whether such ugly scenes cancel out whatever good publicity the film program creates. And because of the tax credit, any effort to shake down producers is, in effect, an attempt to shake down taxpayers, too. And that only calls to mind the troubled history of movie production in Massachusetts. For a time, some producers avoided filming here, mainly because of high labor costs but also because a series of controversies involving local Teamsters had soured the Boston area’s image. The film tax credit persuaded filmmakers to take another look. But if there are any more incidents like the one in June, the Teamsters will no longer seem like an outfit the public can feel good about supporting — an outcome that would hurt union members more than anyone else.
It's always nice to see the corporate paper stick up for unions and taxpayers.
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"Teamsters deny harassing Top Chef film crew" by Zachary T. Sampson | Globe Correspondent August 22, 2014
MILTON — A day after reports spread online that local Teamsters had harassed a film crew for the television show “Top Chef” in June, a union official on Thursday unequivocally denied that members took part in any abuse.
“As far as we’re concerned, it didn’t happen,” said Melissa Hurley, a spokeswoman for Teamsters Local 25.
The website Deadline.com first reported that members of the union shouted racial and homophobic slurs at cast members outside Steel & Rye restaurant on Eliot Street.
The Deadline.com report said union members were upset that Bravo, the network that produces “Top Chef,” hired nonunion workers for filming around Boston.
A source close to the network, who is not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, confirmed the reports to the Globe including accusations that the Teamsters slit the tires of some cars parked outside the restaurant.
Late Thursday, Hurley released a statement from Sean M. O’Brien, president of Teamsters Local 25, saying that “the ‘Top Chef’ situation as it is written is fiction at best.
“As a union, we have the right to lawfully demonstrate and protest the filming of nonunion, non-Massachusetts workers. We have fought long and hard to protect our members, their livelihoods, and will continue to do so. If the allegations were true, Milton police would have taken appropriate action.”
Milton police declined to comment or release a report about the episode, saying that the investigation is ongoing.
Bravo also declined to comment Thursday, though the source close to the network said the film crew had a largely positive stay in Boston.
“We don’t want to let this one [problem] tarnish our experience there,” the source said, adding that network officials met with crew members around the time of the episode and “worked very hard to protect” them.
Steel & Rye owner Dan Kerrigan declined to comment.
William Kring, a graduate student who lives near the restaurant, recalls Eliot Street being clogged with traffic on the morning of the “Top Chef” filming in early June, a jam only exacerbated when several police officers showed up later in the day.
“It was a nightmare down here,” Kring said.
Giancarlo Francesconi, owner of the nearby Radio Coffeehouse, said he saw several cars with passenger-side tires slashed near Steel & Rye that day.
“I want to say it was like 10 cars,” Francesconi said.
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