Another forthcoming series, MTV’s “I Just Want My Pants Back,” a comedy about four recent college graduates, will be filmed almost exclusively on location in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
“Setting it in a place like Greenpoint was really important for me because a key aspect of the show is that you have these two different groups”—trendy 20-somethings and longtime Polish residents—”vying for the same airspace,” said co-executive producer Doug Liman, whose previous work includes directing “Swingers.” “The friction between those two groups is something I was passionate about getting on screen.”
The show’s other executive producer, David Bartis, who is based in Los Angeles, recalled the enjoyable unpredictability of filming on location in New York. He described an incident in which they called the police on an intoxicated bartender at Greenpoint bar Tommy’s Tavern, where they filmed the pilot. The bartender refused to leave the premises, Messrs. Bartis and Liman said, making it impossible for them to continue filming.
Reached by phone, the owner of Tommy’s Tavern, Thomas Kaminski, said their account was inaccurate, though police records confirm that police responded to a call at that location concerning a bartender who was “intoxicated and making threats to crew members.”
“It’s probably one of the reasons why you shoot in New York—because you want to live in a reality that creeps into your production,” Mr. Liman said. “If you look carefully, I’m sure you can see him in the background.”
I couldn’t find any info on when the show is actually going to begin airing, though it sounds like it will either be thoroughly entertaining to laugh at the hipsterificness of it all or infuriating…
It was just picked up as a series in January, so won’t be airing for months. Shooting is just beginning; in fact most of the crowd last night heading up Manhattan to The Lobster Joint’s “friends and family” pre-opening probably didn’t notice but they walked right past Doug Liman and a handful of crew doing some test shooting.
As for “entertaining” or “infuriating”… well, I read the pilot episode script and unless it gets better I know I won’t be much interested in watching. There’s a limit to the amount of trite foolishness that cab be outweighed by glimpses of neighborhood sites. And really, it seemed more to be written for a high school audience than for “hipsters”, but maybe I’m just getting old.
They called the police on an intoxicated bartender IN THE GUY’S OWN BAR??? Was it too “real” for their reality show? “The friction between those two groups is something I was passionate about getting on screen”…. yes, we MUST film everything. I’m sure this show is going to keep really close to reality and not turn anything into melodrama…
Can someone please just shoot these people and get it over with. I’m tired of this crap.