PHOTO: Good neighbors?

Movie vehicles an equipment blocked a downtown street over the weekend.

It’s a big deal to many when a movie crew comes here to film, as is the case with recent activity downtown with the Marlon Wayans movie, “Naked.”   It’s new. It’s different.

But people’s lives have to go on, in spite of everything associated with movie crews, which cause streets to be blocked, traffic to be rerouted and local businesses reliant on tourism to see smaller numbers of people in shops.  Contributing photographer Michael Kaynard recently found parking spaces and lots full with film trucks and other vehicle.  He writes:

“After four hours of not one customer in the shop, I gave up and closed the shop. I walked to the intersection of Church and Broad and took two shots of the movie production.  I was told I could not take pictures.  I told the young man that I could and I had and that they could not prevent me from doing it.  I made a comment to this same man, who I assume was a film employee, about the impact of the film on the businesses along Broad and Church — that the owners were probably not happy potentially losing two days of business.   He said, ‘I could care less.  That isn’t my job.’

“There are always two sides to every story.  This account is how I see it and how it affected me.  I love Charleston but don’t think we need to lose who we are by selling out every time someone wants a permit to film something here.  I would love to know how the shop owners on Broad Street feel and if they were paid for loss of revenue.”  (Photo by Michael Kaynard, Kaynard Photography)