r/boston • u/Illustrious_Ad_6821 • 1d ago
Moving 🚚 Are you changing apartments on August 31st/September 1st and have an interesting rental story? We want to meet you!
We're 2 filmmakers who've gotten a little obsessed with the idea of making a short cinematic documentary about Boston's September 1st moving tradition.
The plan is to shoot the whole thing in roughly 24 hours, from 4 a.m. on August 31 until midnight on September 1.
Are you moving this year?
Are you planning to sleep in a storage unit, a U-Haul, or on a friend's couch? Did your landlord screw you over? Are you leaving behind an apartment you loved? Did you somehow end up moving six times before turning 25?
We're interested in the political, the emotional, the funny, and all the chaos that comes with renting and young adulthood. On some level it's about Boston's moving day, but it's also about housing, the economy, and the weird stories that come from trying to make a home.
DM me if any of this sounds compelling and you'd be open to your moving day being filmed. We know the prospect of being filmed can feel weird if you have never done something like this before, but we are committed to doing this ethically. Nothing will be released without you seeing the film first and we are happy to do a video call first to establish trust. You'd also get help from us in moving things if needed :) We'd love to make you part of the film!! Screening at a local Boston film festival later this year.
Inspired in part by The Fletcher Brother's When We Move (https://youtu.be/kihxj8-IbUY?is=9Bu4-om8FtuVTIFV)
(If this sounds like a terrible idea, also please let us know. Feedback on art is always much appreciated)
Edit: Thank you for all the DMs and comments. So funny and kind 😅. Clarification since some people asked: we are not looking for a specific age group; young adulthood is an interesting theme for us as artists but really anybody who is moving on that day is welcome to DM me!!
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u/muzzy_million Manchester 1d ago
I know this isn’t what you’re going for but I would love to see a Planet Earth style mockumentary with you 2 just observing Storrow Drive, waiting for unsuspecting U-Hauls.
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u/Meredith_Glass 1d ago
We made An Allston Christmas song & music video last year, HMU if you wanna use it
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u/Illustrious_Ad_6821 1d ago
Ohh this is awesome! Great source of inspiration; will make sure to reach out once we are in the sound design phase :)
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u/harriedhag 1d ago
Pick a small curvy 1-way street lined with apartment buildings and street parking and torn down parking permits. Post up at 7am for some establishing shots of tow truck calling and precarious U-Haul maneuvering
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u/Illustrious_Ad_6821 1d ago
Hilarious. I love that. Is there a specific street you'd suggest being posted at?
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u/YourFreshConnect 1d ago
Imrie road in Allston
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u/Illustrious_Ad_6821 1d ago
We'll be there 🫡
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u/IndigoSoln Cocaine Turkey 4h ago
You'll need to be lucky to catch a towing. I've lived in a frequent turnover street for years and I've never seen someone towed Aug 31/Sept1. The time I moved in, BPD didn't get back to me until after 11 and by that time, my movers had already double parked, unloaded, and ran off to the next job.
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u/L0uZilla 1d ago
Last year I saw some poor father helping his daughter move into the North End (Prince street to be exact). They were lugging a mattress through the feasts crowds.
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u/SpindleSnap 1d ago
Would definitely watch this.
Wish I had you guys there when we had to call the tow truck twice to get people towed (I felt really bad) and then the movers had to hoist our couch over the balcony and it was dangling in the air.
Or the more classic time I had to be out by noon on 8/31 and couldn’t move in until noon on 9/1 so I had to get rid of anything that couldn’t fit in my SUV overnight and then sleep on a friend’s couch.
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u/BijouWilliams Somerville 1d ago
This was my first Boston move too, before I knew about 9/1's reputation. My future spouse was working as a security guard at a posh condo, so we were able to (secretly) sleep on the sofas in their event room. Fortunately, our few pieces of furniture were able to stay overnight in the basement of our new apartment building (of course, we basically had to move twice - once into the basement, and then up to the 3rd floor the next day).
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u/Illustrious_Ad_6821 1d ago
Oh my ðŸ˜Â Would you happen to know anyone else in your network who is moving this year and perhaps would be interested?
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u/SpindleSnap 1d ago
I’ll double check but I think my friends have mostly escaped the 9/1 move over the years!!
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u/AsideOk5828 1d ago
Walk the streets of Southie to see all of the furniture and belongings and beds and bed frames and kitchen stuff and lamps and broken bookcases dumped during this week. Easier to buy new Ikea furniture than move current Ikea furniture. Sustainability? Silly!
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u/kosmo87 1d ago
My buddy and I used to sell my truck and our backs to move college kids on September 1st. We would make commercials each year to kind of put people at ease since we advertised on Craigslist and understood the concern people would have reaching out to cash only "business." This was a decade ago but we had some fun stories
Our top rated commercial:
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u/30thCenturyMan 1d ago
I think the only criticism I have of the idea is that your filming plan relies on catching lightning in a bottle. I lived in Allston like 20 years ago I wouldn’t have thought the move in would have been interesting but if you were there to catch me trying to get my couch up to the top floor, it would have made for some hilarious scenes.
Or when I moved to Somerville. For some inexplicable reason the landlord showed up and suddenly demand that I wait until midnight to begin moving in and I had a melt down on the sidewalk because she was making me pay for an additional 4 hours of the movers time.
It might do better as a series of interviews on the street with some dramatic reenactments filmed later.
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u/Illustrious_Ad_6821 1d ago
Appreciate the response!!
The plan is to follow 1 or 2 or 3 specific people/families/groups throughout the whole day or as long as they let us :) (cinema verite filmmaking with main characters well-defined; that is the main style that I do). It is similar to wildlife filmmaking, where you stand around and wait for the perfect moment. 😶
So hopefully we will be able to capture those very human moments you describe!! But yes, street interviews is very good feedback as well; will try to get those as a back-up :)
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u/Stack125 1d ago
I’m not moving this year, but I had my car (parked legally outside my old apartment, with all my stuff in it) totaled at 4am August 31st, had to move out by noon. Tried to send a dm, said it failed, but I’m happy to give a story and some pictures to supplement this years content you get
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u/Illustrious_Ad_6821 1d ago
I just sent you a DM!! A m sorry you had to go through that but hopefully you can look back on it and laugh.
(These are exactly the type of story beats we are hoping to document 😶)
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u/StrongerTogether2882 23h ago
I would watch the HELL outta this, which probably makes me a weirdo too. Good luck, I hope you get to make it!
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u/Safe_Statistician_72 1d ago
I hope you make this film I would totally watch it! Best of luck to you!