Whiny vapid hipsters make an L train shutdown movie

[Deucey]

I gather that the self-importance of W’burg hipsters & gentrifiers inspired this film, and that when reality set in, they tried making a self-important “YOU’RE MAKING ME TAKE THE  “ film that opted to include non-hipster people.

https://www.amny.com/entertainment/l-train-shutdown-documentary-1.17403997

Quote

Two filmmakers have set out to give New Yorkers an unfiltered look into the L train shutdown that’ll take a line serving hundreds of thousands of riders out of service for 15 months. 

“The L train was definitely the catalyst for this movie, but as we started filming, other signs of what’s going to happen became the focus,” Ian Mayer says. The 39-year-old producer from Chelsea teamed up with director Emmett Adler, 29, to track the events leading up to the projected April 2019 closure for superstorm Sandy-related repairs. 

Mayer and Adler have been shooting footage since November 2016. So far, they’ve sat down with transit execs (NYC Transit President Andy Byford), business owners (Kate Buenaflor of Williamsburg’s Kilo Bravo and Soft Spot), government officials and locals to record their projected woes. 

“It’s just tons of concerns from all different angles,” Adler, who resides just outside of SoHo, says. 

The duo has filmed dozens of private interviews and plans to follow up with them all post-shutdown to come full-circle in the film. They’re aiming to hit the festival circuit -- or solidify a deal with a major network -- to meet a fall 2019 release.

But before all that happens, they have a lot of filming to do: They’re still in the early stages of production and expect to continue shooting until next spring. 

Bits and pieces of the film’s footage will be released via the untitled L train doc’s social media pages. Until then, here’s what you can expect to see in the film.  

A seat at the decision-making table

Board meetings, City Hall briefings, Transit Committee gatherings ... no matter the occasion, the camera has kept filming to show why and how the shutdown decisions were made. “This will be a look at what democracy looks like,” Adler says. 

“For me, it’s a deeper understanding of how our cities work, and to raise awareness and hopefully improve upon the current way that we operate,” Mayer adds.

An underground look at construction

They haven’t yet secured the necessary permits to shoot within the tunnels during construction but including that footage in the movie remains the goal. 

“We’re going to need cooperation with the MTA,” Adler explains. “There have been no signs to say that won’t be possible. We’ve been in touch with the MTA press office and they’ve been open to the idea of us potentially getting in there, so we’ll see.” 

‘Human stories’ from locals

To avoid a talking-head style documentary, the filmmakers will tell “human stories” by following the daily lives of those who may be directly impacted -- a commuter, an employee, a business owner. “That’ll be at the heart of it. We want to focus on the humanity and not get too lost in the specifics,” Mayer says.

The impact on Brooklyn business

Aside from the clear commuter concerns, the impact the shutdown may have on local businesses, bars, nightclubs, restaurants and more will be a major topic.

“To some degree, people are worried about their livelihoods and day-to-day life being affected,” Adler says. “If you’re a business, say close to the Bedford L stop in Williamsburg, and you’re paying sky-high rent because of high foot traffic and suddenly that stops, what are you paying for?” 

Adler and Mayer have spoken to Brooklyn Brewery President Steve Hindy, Scott Davis, the owner of Teddy’s Bar and Grill and Kate Buenaflor, of the Brooklyn Allied Bars and Restaurants group that called the shutdown a “nightmare scenario.” The filmmakers say they’ve been told people fear they’ll lose their businesses or have to move locations to remain profitable.

The Manhattan effect

In their research, Adler and Mayer have naturally discovered concerns stretching beyond Brooklyn. They plan to include information on how service might significantly increase along the J, M, Z and G lines and look into how increased foot traffic in Manhattan and Queens may boost business. 

To keep up with the L train documentary’s progress, visit its ltraindoc.com or Instagram page.

[kosciusko]

47 minutes ago, Deucey said:

Two filmmakers

Lol this is going to be good

[Deucey]

8 hours ago, kosciusko said:

Lol this is going to be good

Yeah...two guys complaining about the  shutdown then deciding to make it a "human interest" doc, but they were unconcerned about the  shutdown in the Bx for "signal work" or the long commutes for people in Wakefield to Manhattan for the  .

But like many a hipster has told me, the Bronx is this "magical place like Narnia."

I'd probably have less exasperation of this if the people who make these films and complaints actually realized NYC is more than Manhattan, the airports and whatever's on the  train.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

9 minutes ago, Deucey said:

Yeah...two guys complaining about the  shutdown then deciding to make it a "human interest" doc, but they were unconcerned about the  shutdown in the Bx for "signal work" or the long commutes for people in Wakefield to Manhattan for the  .

But like many a hipster has told me, the Bronx is this "magical place like Narnia."

I'd probably have less exasperation of this if the people who make these films and complaints actually realized NYC is more than Manhattan, the airports and whatever's on the  train.

Riverdale is always the exception.  Seems as if people I work with or for always know about it or have friends at work that live there.  I have a client down in Battery Park City who lives in an expensive doorman building.  Her son plays tennis in Riverdale.  When she heard I lived there, she's oh Riverdale. My son plays tennis up there.  It gets a pass for not being the ghetto part. One of my other clients does field work in the Bronx, but lives on the Upper West Side not far from Central Park.  She was like it's really pretty up there.  I think just about all of the other areas of the Bronx she works in are the worst (South Bronx and maybe Tremont lol), since she deals with a lot of people addicted to various drugs. If she saw Pelham Gardens, Morris Park, Woodlawn, or maybe Country Club or City Island, she would perhaps be more open to the Bronx, but usually people are exposed to the worst parts.  I remember when my co-worker (he's French his wife is Italian-American) invited me to his house for a BBQ in Morris Park.  

Well I had never been to the Bronx before, so I was hesitant. Me and another co-worker took the BxM10 bus up from Manhattan.  Coming in on that expressway you think you've entered hell.  We were like OMG... Where in the hell are we? LMAO. Then the bus made a turn up Morris Park Avenue and suddenly the neighborhood completely changed around Bronxdale Avenue. I'd say a lot of the Bronx is like that. The good areas are tucked away and generally not accessible by subway.  Our co-worker picked us up from the express bus and drove us to his house.  I'm from Brooklyn originally, so it's a thing that you do. My friend from Pelham Bay... We'd always bust each others chops.  

We had another co-worker in New Jersey who was afraid to come to the BBQ. It took three phone calls to convince her, so as we sat in his garden eating, I'm not going to lie.  I was like holy sh*t. I'm eating BBQ in the Bronx with birds chirping and no gun shots.  LMAO

 

[Deucey]

1 hour ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

Well I had never been to the Bronx before, so I was hesitant. Me and another co-worker took the BxM10 bus up from Manhattan.  Coming in on that expressway you think you've entered hell

But, excluding Manhattan between 55th and 96th, and Eastern Queens, that’s what NYC always looked like. It’s only because investors started investing that you now have “pretty” and desirable areas outnumbering shitholes.

Walk along N5-7th in Williamsburg and even those building would still be considered slums if it weren’t for gentrification or money. 

Hell, I could show folks better apartments and buildings in Brownsville and Morrisania than what’s in W’burg, but they’ll still be “undesirable”.

[Via Garibaldi 8]

12 minutes ago, Deucey said:

But, excluding Manhattan between 55th and 96th, and Eastern Queens, that’s what NYC always looked like. It’s only because investors started investing that you now have “pretty” and desirable areas outnumbering shitholes.

Walk along N5-7th in Williamsburg and even those building would still be considered slums if it weren’t for gentrification or money. 

Hell, I could show folks better apartments and buildings in Brownsville and Morrisania than what’s in W’burg, but they’ll still be “undesirable”.

True... In all honesty, a lot of Brooklyn is run down these days. I don't know what people see in some of these areas. The housing stock is old and not in good shape, and I say this as a Brooklynite.  If they were brownstones it would be one thing, but some of the housing stock is just ugly.  Taking the  train to friends in "East Williamsburg", it was comical to see these new buildings right next to ordinary Brooklyn dwellings.  One of my friends lived in one with his girlfriend and her son.  Nice place but really weird vibe on the block since they were basically gentrifiers. Years ago a friend of mine had what he called a "two bedroom". Basically a faux wall between what should've been a large one bedroom, across the street from a Boar's Head facility. $1400 at that time... Are you kidding me?? He wanted me to move in. I said no thank you. We had just finished college and I was getting ready to move out on my own then.  He wanted that over a nice apartment in Bay Ridge that I showed him because it was close to the city. 

l've seen some amazing apartments online in Mott Haven.  Totally gutted with brand new everything and stackable washer and dryer, but it's still a hard sell because of the area.  Williamsburg just got hot because so many people wanted Manhattan but were pushed out. I mean I remember when it was a dump. lol  

When the train officially shuts down it's going to be really funny to see how that area holds up. Those hipsters are going to lose their minds.

[Deucey]

2 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

When the train officially shuts down it's going to be really funny to see how that area holds up. Those hipsters are going to lose their minds.

They already are. 

They think their “commiserations” are on par with Vietnam, Civil Rights or BLM protests - the chants, the meetings and now using media to broadcast the message, but unlike the aforementioned attempting to correct social ills, these hipsters are showing how self-centered and vapid they really are.

Its 1.25 years; they’re getting bus services to Midtown when they could just take the  to 14th St or B-way/Lafayette, or the  to Court Sq to  or .

But even with those options, it’s the end of the world. 

Where’s the documentary and angry tears captures from when the Franklin  shut down, or when you had to bus it out from the Rockaways when  shut down because of Sandy Repairs??

There aren’t any, because folks adapted due to not being spoiled nor being subjected to participation awards...

[itmaybeokay]

2 hours ago, Deucey said:

They already are. 

They think their “commiserations” are on par with Vietnam, Civil Rights or BLM protests - the chants, the meetings and now using media to broadcast the message, but unlike the aforementioned attempting to correct social ills, these hipsters are showing how self-centered and vapid they really are.

Its 1.25 years; they’re getting bus services to Midtown when they could just take the  to 14th St or B-way/Lafayette, or the  to Court Sq to  or .

But even with those options, it’s the end of the world. 

Where’s the documentary and angry tears captures from when the Franklin  shut down, or when you had to bus it out from the Rockaways when  shut down because of Sandy Repairs??

There aren’t any, because folks adapted due to not being spoiled nor being subjected to participation awards...

Simply put, it's entitlement. 

The social status, dumb as it might be, of living off the L has inflated rents all the way into bushwick, to the point where most people who have to "work for their money" wouldn't spend it on a crumby, overpriced apartment off of a single subway line with no redundancy.

So a large percentage of those who do live there - not talking about the whole line, plenty of regular people on there - but in the "hip" or "hip adjacent" areas you've got such a concentration of entitlement that - this shit. 

Everytime someone complains at me about it I ask the same question "How do you propose they repair the tunnel?"

[Lance]

18 minutes ago, itmaybeokay said:

Everytime someone complains at me about it I ask the same question "How do you propose they repair the tunnel?"

Obviously through fairy dust and some bibbity bobbity boo.

[TheNewYorkElevated]

The people that are complaining about this need know that this is life. It's has to happen. Many of us can understand the economic effect this is going to have on 14th Street and Williamsburg. But if a hipster from anywhere in the U.S. or the world wants to live in New York City and be a New Yorker, one way to do it is to deal with the struggles of the subway us locals have to go through. 

 

[NoHacksJustKhaks]

5 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

When the train officially shuts down it's going to be really funny to see how that area holds up. Those hipsters are going to lose their minds.

Considering many Williamsburg hipsters are becoming as chemically toxic as Chernobyl. Williamsburg will probably look like said area once a bulk of people freak the heck out and move.

The thing is, people actually have a good reason to freak and move out of a destroyed soviet city, but Williamsburg, nahhhhhhhhh...... 

[RTSTdrive]

It's vexatious to see that this film is gonna show off Williamsburg as the only part of Brooklyn affected by this...nevermind the fact that apparently all of Brooklyn is just W'burg 

Pero like what about us Canarsiens and East New Yorkers. Our commutes are gonna be a quarter of the time longer (at the very least) smh

[Deucey]

1 minute ago, RTSTdrive said:

It's vexatious to see that this film is gonna show off Williamsburg as the only part of Brooklyn affected by this...nevermind the fact that apparently all of Brooklyn is just W'burg 

Pero like what about us Canarsiens and East New Yorkers. Our commutes are gonna be a quarter of the time longer (at the very least) smh

That's why these W'burg hipsters are such a shitty whiny people. Furthest they know the L goes is Halsey St - cuz that's the end of (UGHHH) Bushwick. So they complain that they have to get on a different crowded train and travel to it. Nevermind that everyone who lives East of Broadway Junction is going to have to deal with roundabout commutes on already-crowded trains.

You guys get to "adapt"; these folks get shuttle buses taking them past the nearest subway station ALL THE EFFING WAY TO UNION SQUARE. And they're STILL mad.

[BreeddekalbL]

Imagine when these gavones were around when they shut the williamsburg bridge they would be very angry, plus when they announced the plan i freaking went in on one of those hipsters cause he got mad when i have him alternatives and he was all they can run 1 tunnel im like no they cant, they think the mta will bow to them

[CenSin]

1 hour ago, NoHacksJustKhaks said:

Considering many Williamsburg hipsters are becoming as chemically toxic as Chernobyl. Williamsburg will probably look like said area once a bulk of people freak the heck out and move.

The thing is, people actually have a good reason to freak and move out of a destroyed soviet city, but Williamsburg, nahhhhhhhhh...... 

A destroyed Soviet city from decades ago? That is so rustic! Gotta move in and enjoy that authentic slow-drip coffee brewed with nuclear radiation heated water. That water’s also gonna homeopathically give me resistance to radiation poisoning.

/s

[R68OnBroadway]

1 hour ago, CenSin said:

A destroyed Soviet city from decades ago? That is so rustic! Gotta move in and enjoy that authentic slow-drip coffee brewed with nuclear radiation heated water. That water’s also gonna homeopathically give me resistance to radiation poisoning.

/s

Don't forget: Who needs unnatural vaccines when you have radiation to kill every disease?

[BreeddekalbL]

7 hours ago, RTSTdrive said:

It's vexatious to see that this film is gonna show off Williamsburg as the only part of Brooklyn affected by this...nevermind the fact that apparently all of Brooklyn is just W'burg 

Pero like what about us Canarsiens and East New Yorkers. Our commutes are gonna be a quarter of the time longer (at the very least) smh

They dont give a damn about your side of brooklyn since williamsburg is the center of the universe

[B35 via Church]

This is nothing more than a huge appeal to emotion.... Making a documentary "movie" about an impending shutdown isn't going to cease any plans of the shutdown itself....

The way I see it is, if a shutdown of a subway tunnel (for necessary repairs) is going to cause you to uproot, then you didn't belong here in the first place....

Good Riddance.

[RR503]

Narcissism and self-pity.

Make a movie about deficient bus service. Much more of an important issue -- especially for those who ostensibly care about social justice. 

[CenSin]

1 hour ago, RR503 said:

Narcissism and self-pity.

Make a movie about deficient bus service. Much more of an important issue -- especially for those who ostensibly care about social justice. 

Let me introduce you to the term virtue signaling… It’s like a subway signal that faces the cinder-block wall of a dead-end tunnel.

[RR503]

34 minutes ago, CenSin said:

It’s like a subway signal that faces the cinder-block wall of a dead-end tunnel.

Specifically, the one by 76th Street, right? 

[46Dover]

6 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

This is nothing more than a huge appeal to emotion.... Making a documentary "movie" about an impending shutdown isn't going to cease any plans of the shutdown itself....

The way I see it is, if a shutdown of a subway tunnel (for necessary repairs) is going to cause you to uproot, then you didn't belong here in the first place....

Good Riddance.

One can only hope this is the spark to start that fire....

[DaTransitMan4608]

I'm getting an odd satisfaction seeing all of you roasting the hipsters lol.

 

Yeah this documentary seems to only care about their little Willy B utopia and doesn't really think of riders east of B'way Junction who live further out on the line. You know what's even funnier? Those folks don't even seem to be bitching as much as the hipsters, at least I haven't heard them bitching. I feel like those folks are just gonna suck it up and use the and the New Lots/ENY folks are gonna use the .      

[checkmatechamp13]

19 hours ago, BreeddekalbL said:

Imagine when these gavones were around when they shut the williamsburg bridge they would be very angry, plus when they announced the plan i freaking went in on one of those hipsters cause he got mad when i have him alternatives and he was all they can run 1 tunnel im like no they cant, they think the mta will bow to them

They can run it with just one tunnel, but the frequency would be severely reduced, reliability would be compromised for the entire line, and construction would take twice as long (Plus they would still need to do periodic total shutdowns on the weekend anyway)

[Deucey]

4 hours ago, DaTransitMan4608 said:

I'm getting an odd satisfaction seeing all of you roasting the hipsters lol.

 

Yeah this documentary seems to only care about their little Willy B utopia and doesn't really think of riders east of B'way Junction who live further out on the line. You know what's even funnier? Those folks don't even seem to be bitching as much as the hipsters, at least I haven't heard them bitching. I feel like those folks are just gonna suck it up and use the and the New Lots/ENY folks are gonna use the .      

That’s because the folks east of B’way Junction - or being really real, Myrtle - aren’t really transplants. They’re used to NYC being NYC and just adapt. 

Its these suburbanite kids moving to the city that can’t deal. Participation trophies, soccer games with no scores and being denied adversity growing up made them imaginative but soft, and having everything handed to them instead of feeling awkward and growing pairs made them entitled to expecting preferential treatment on their terms.

Hence why Canarsie and Brownsville get to adapt, while the hipsters get a SBS to 14th Street instead of shuttles or extra B62s or rerouted B32s to Court Square or Marcy Ave, and the hipsters are STILL not satiated.