Big Screen
Posted by Fred Jandt
Editor, Mass Transit
So I went to see the new Iron Man movie last night. It was a good start to the summer movie season — lots of action with plenty of things blowing up. However, spending enough time in the transit industry, has made me look past the main characters in a movie such as this and look for the important things in the background.
You know, like the bus that gets torn up in the climactic battle near the end of the movie. And I always try to figure out whose bus that is.
I’ve visited several transit agencies that were used as backdrops for movies. There was filming for a remake of The Body Snatchers while I was in Baltimore visiting the Maryland Transit Administration a few years back. While I was in Vancouver — well, Vancouver is the home to several TV series, so it goes without saying that there were signs everywhere for various film sites.
I didn’t get a chance to catch whose bus it was in Iron Man, but from the look of it and that the movie was filmed in downtown L.A., I can only assume it was a Metro bus. And I imagine the agency made a nice profit from appearing in the movie.
Movie and TV appearances can be a nice sideline for transit agencies. It is great exposure, the agency makes a nice little bit of additional revenue and it can be a lot of fun overall.
The added revenue is nice, but I think the most important thing is the added exposure. Transit is something that people either a) don’t realize is there or b) take for granted because they see it every day. Now that’s a generalization, but the point is that getting people on transit takes a little extra exposure.
Locally commercials have begun running on TV and radio to take the bus as an alternative to the high price of gas. These same ads ran last year and they make a good message. If only a couple people a day hear that message and think about switching to transit, it’s a windfall for an agency.
And with gas prices going ever higher, transit’s time to shine is now. Take the example from the Jimmy Kimmel show, which did a complete show one night while onboard Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus. That’s a grand slam for the agency!
We are in a video world, and the more transit can take part in it, the more it will benefit from it.
Thanks for reading the MT Position updated every Friday,
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:32 pm
FYI-
Not all buses used in cinema are borrowed from a transit agency.
There is a gentleman in the Arizona/California area that buys old buses and collects them as a hobby. In order to make money to support this hobby and also provide the capital needed to restore these vehicles and keep them running, he hires them out to various TV and Movie companies on the side.
What you saw in Iron Man may or may not have been one of his buses. I have not seen the movie or read any articles about its production yet, so at this time I can not give a definitive answer on my hypothesis. I am only proposing another possibility to be explored.
Jason Lockhart, Senior
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:43 am
Good points Mr. Jandt. Instead of the boneheaded idea of taking a summer holiday hiatus on the fuel tax put forth by Clinton and McCain, one of the presidential candidates(Maybe Obama?) should have the contrarian courage to actually suggest now adding five or ten cents per gallon to the federal coffers for transit systems, commuter railroads and intercity Amtrak.(Forgive me for briefly hallucinating!)
Check out our appreciation to late NARP President Jack Martin on the run-up to National Rail Day a week from today(May 10th).
Keep writing the thoughtful editorials and putting out a fine on-line publication.
Best,
Ted Vigodsky
Editor/Co-ordinator
Atlanta Sidestreets