Studios Fret That New York’s Gun Laws Could Hamper Film Production

[alp227]

Source: New York Times

The sweeping gun control measure signed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and hailed by Democratic leaders has a surprising critic: Hollywood.

Officials in the movie and television industry say the new laws could prevent them from using the lifelike assault weapons and high-capacity magazines that they have employed in shows like “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and films like “The Dark Knight Rises.”

Twenty-seven pilots, television and feature projects, including programs like “Blue Bloods” and “Person of Interest,” are now in production in New York State using assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, according to the Motion Picture Association of America. Industry workers say that they need to use real weapons for verisimilitude, that it would be impractical to try to manufacture fake weapons that could fire blanks, and that the entertainment industry should not be penalized accidentally by a law intended as a response to mass shootings.

“Weapons are part of our history as a culture as humans,” said Ryder Washburn, vice president of the Specialists, a leading supplier of firearms for productions that is based in Manhattan. “To tell stories, you need them.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/02/nyregion/studios-fret-that-new-yorks-gun-laws-could-hamper-film-production.html?pagewanted=all

[AlbertCat]

1. Do drug laws keep them from depicting drug use?

Do laws against murder keep them from depicting murder?

Do they think this is a real problem?????

I used to work in film.... and they love to create problems (usually based on ego) that do not exist.

[nolabear]

2. Oh come ON.

[kardonb]

4. come on

I would love to see TV shows or movies that DO NOT involve these damned guns . I see an ad for those that show a gun , and I make a point NOT to watch that show .

[nolabear]

6. Yeah but the whole concern is ridiculous.

[NV Whino]

3. Most of the "New York" shows are filmed in Toronto anyway

[onehandle]

5. Tough shit. nt

[awoke_in_2003]

7. I agree...

and I hate cop shows anyways.

[DavidDvorkin]

8. I didn't know that they really shoot people in those movies

I thought it was all pretend.

[hughee99]

9. I thought Hollywood wanted to depict reality.

The governor just signed the bill that will expand the ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines, therefore people in NY won't have them any more. If people in NY don't have them, they'll be no need to depict them. It's only a problem if you're shooting a movie about something that happened before the ban.

[hedgehog]

10. 'World War Z' Guns Seized By Hungarian Anti-Terrorist Squad

Brad Pitt's epic zombie thriller has run into trouble with Hungarian authorities after an anti-terrorism squad raided a warehouse holding guns to be used during the filming. The only problem was that the guns, which were supposed to be non-functional, were in perfect working order.

Us Weekly reports that 85 fully-functional automatic and military-style assault rifles were confiscated at an airport near the film's Budapest set, where they were being stored.



http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/brad-pitt-world-war-z-guns-seized-246251