Heavily Armed Soldiers Take Over Roosevelt Island's Main Street - But It's Not Real, Just Filming The New Kings TV Show

What's this?

Heavily Armed soldiers rumbling down Roosevelt Island's Main Street in a caravan of armored vehicles. Sick of the objections by some Roosevelt Island residents, have the supporters of the Kahn/FDR Memorial finally decided to employ unilateral military action and take over Southpoint Park once and for all?

Nah. It just that a new NBC show called Kings is shooting some scenes today on Roosevelt Island and is the reason why the parking advisory was issued for today by RIOC.

Cinema Blend describes Kings as:

... an inspiring exploration of the timeless David vs. Goliath struggle. The show is set in a modern metropolis under siege where the fighting has gone on for too long and cost far too many lives. When David Shepherd (Christopher Egan, “Resident Evil: Extinction”), a brave young soldier, rescues the king’s (Golden Globe winner Ian McShane, “Deadwood”) son from enemy territory, he sets events in motion that will finally bring peace....

Kings movie crew shooting some overhead scenes

There is a serious issue regarding the disruption of normal community life when a film crew takes over a section of a neighborhood. The NY Times City Room reports on the reaction from a Bronx neighborhood:

“This is good for the city to have shows filmed here, but you can’t given them a blank check,” Mr. Dinowitz said. “Taking away people’s parking for two days is absurd.”

A representative for 20th Century Fox Television, which is producing “Life on Mars” with ABC, said in a statement:

The producers of “Life on Mars” are deeply grateful to the city of New York and its residents for their goodwill and hospitality. We ask their patience with any temporary inconveniences our filming may cause and we apologize if our activities have had an adverse impact on any citizen’s daily life.

The Brooklyn Heights Blog has some useful information on what to do when a film crew is outside your door including this code of behavior for film crews (via Brooklyn Heights Association):

1)Post notices of parking restrictions well enough in advance so that people can move their cars. This means at least 48 hours. For shoots that have towing permits, the notice has to go up before the “alternate side parking” day to be seen when motorists routinely go to move their cars. );

2) Be courteous to residents and businesses on location and stay within the limits of the permit, both in terms of space and times;

3) Clean-up all waste created by the shoot.

Here is some more information on prior TV and movies shot on Roosevelt Island as well as how to get required permits and approvals.