MASS. LOSING TV SPOTLIGHT
State sees a drop in reality filming after Teamsters ‘Top Chef’ protests
The number of reality shows filmed in Massachusetts fell sharply after the controversial, highly publicized 2014 Teamster picketing of “Top Chef” that is now on trial, a Herald review of state records suggests.
In 2013, 10 shows filmed their seasons or episodes in Massachusetts, including a season of TLC’s “I Found the Gown” and an episode of Spike’s “Bar Rescue,” according to the Massachusetts Film Office website. In 2014, 11 shows besides “Top Chef” filmed here, including ABC’s “Boston EMS” and A&E’s “60 Seconds to Sell.”
But only three shows are listed as having filmed in the Bay State in 2015 and three in 2016, mainly Massachusetts-centric shows such as “Wahlburgers” and “Wicked Tuna.” Only “House Hunters International” is listed so far for 2017.
A film office spokesman claimed its website listings are not definitive, and might not include shows the office was unaware of, whose producers might have pulled permits in various cities and towns without the state office’s involvement. The film office helps productions receive state tax incentives and helps facilitate logistics.
The “Top Chef” case made headlines in 2014, with national coverage when indictments were brought down and again in the last two weeks as it went to trial. The case is before the jury with possible verdicts pending as early as today.
“Clearly it was not good for the industry in Massachusetts,” said Allan Kassirer, a former producer and partner at International Studio Group, which pushed to build a production facility on the former Weymouth Naval Air Station a decade ago. Though he noted there could be other factors, he said that when the news first broke about “Top Chef,” “people out here started scratching their heads and saying, ‘Wait a minute.’ ”
Jason Kauppi of the Merit Construction Alliance, which represents open-shop contractors, said the “Top Chef” publicity stokes long-held reservations about filming here. Kauppi, a press aide to former Gov. Paul Cellucci, recalled movie execs expressing reservations about Teamsters on a Cellucci trade mission to Hollywood in 1999.
“It would seem preposterous to me for anyone to suggest that what has gone on here has not hurt Boston in the eyes of Hollywood, in particular reality TV,” Kauppi said. “These reality shows are built on speed — they film very quickly, they need to make a show in a couple of days. So they need to be efficient, and in order to be efficient, you really need to have a team that works together.”
Prosecutors allege that in 2014, four Teamsters lobbed insults and threats at “Top Chef” workers, leaving host Padma Lakshmi “petrified.” Cast and crew described confrontations with union members as the show was shooting in Milton, after planned Boston locations backed out. One Teamster, John Fidler, allegedly got up close to Lakshmi and said, “What a shame about that pretty face,” and blocked her van from entering the site. Prosecutors also say the men slashed tires on the production’s rented vans.
The trial roped in Walsh’s tourism and entertainment director, Kenneth Brissette, who prosecutors referred to as an unindicted co-conspirator for temporarily withholding permits during the “Top Chef ” production. Brissette, indicted on extortion charges and awaiting trial in the separate Boston Calling concert case, is on paid leave.
City Councilor Tito Jackson, who will challenge Walsh in November, said the spectre of scandal in City Hall is “bad for business.”
“Regardless of the outcome of the case, any member of City Hall being involved in cases that deter businesses from coming here is bad,” Jackson said. “Obviously people are presumed innocent until proven guilty, but any of these conversations are bad for business in the city of Boston. ... We are a city that businesses know that they will be able to come and be able to do business based on merit.”
Walsh refused yesterday to comment on the case or its possible harm to the film industry in Boston.
“I’m all set with that,” Walsh told the Herald.
Reality TV shows in general tend to use less union work than movies, Kassirer said. He recalled past Teamster troubles — when four Teamsters were indicted and two convicted on extortion charges for trying to get money for non-existent jobs out of producers for “The Brinks Job” in the late 1970s — saying that scared off movie makers.
“After guys in Massachusetts went to jail, nobody would go film in Massachusetts for quite a while,” Kassirer said.