ENCINO, CA – As reported in the Los Angeles Times, an Easter Sunday video shoot commissioned by Vivid Entertainment Group led to consternation and a burst of activism on the part of some nearby residents, who pelted the city with complaints via telephone and email.Unfortunately for the angered occupants of some homes on Encino’s Hayvenhurst Avenue, what was transpiring on the premises of their neighbor’s home was perfectly legal and duly licensed by the City.
While one resident did report seeing some “scantily clad” women entering the house, from one neighborhood resident’s comments in the Times, the fashion sense and personal appearance of the members of the film crew had as much to do with the hubbub as did the nature of the production being filmed.
Nearby resident John R. Johnson, who described the film crew’s unloading of equipment as looking like a “prison-yard break”, noted that many of the film crew members were “covered in tattoos,” according to the Times.
“That was the end of Easter Sunday,” Johnson told the Times.
When an irate Johnson called city authorities to complain, though, they told him everything going on at the house was legal and the company doing the filming had acquired all the proper permits.
In fact, residents of the neighborhood received a flier the week before Easter notifying them of the filming scheduled for Easter – the flier did not specify that the shoot was pornographic in nature, however.
Johnson and the other concerned Hayvenhurst residents admitted that they didn’t see any actual nudity, witness any obscene acts, or otherwise actually observe anything objectionable; it’s the very idea of porn being shot up the street that has incensed them.
“I was stunned that whoever issues permits for this would be that insensitive,” Johnson told the Times. “If they had been shooting a West Wing episode that day, I wouldn’t have had the same reaction.”
If they weren’t happy on Easter, the Hayvenhurst residents must really not be pleased by what has transpired since.
The day after the Vivid shoot wrapped, Playboy Entertainment Group showed up to film for a reality TV show. Then, last week, it was PW Productions, using the house to “shoot explicit DVD and video cover art,” according to the Times.
The Hayvenhurst residents have now circulated a petition alleging that the filming has “introduced unsavory and undesirable elements” into their neighborhood. According to the Times, 22 residents have signed the petition; the Times reporting does not specify how many total residents there are in the neighborhood.
Steven Hirsch, co-founder and co-chairman of Vivid, told the Times that adult productions make some people uneasy, which in turn makes Vivid’s crews more cautious.
“We are cognizant that the neighbors are around when we shoot,” said Hirsch. “We are quiet, and we don’t bring a lot of equipment. There aren’t people running around naked, and you can’t look through the fence in the backyard and see what we are doing.”
