The Cops Have Been Called During Fliming Of BGC7

Source: Nola.com

During the first six weeks of filming "Bad Girls Club," the controversial unscripted television show in production at an upscale house overlooking Kenner's Chateau Estates golf course, things had been so quiet that the Police Department switched from two off-duty officers outside 24 hours a day to just one.

Then came Tuesday night. Reserve officer Mike Sigur was less than an hour into his shift when one of the cast members opened the front door of the home.

"As she came out she took a line directly to the gate and where (I was) parked," Sigur said. "I thought that is kind of strange because they never come this far out of the house."

Tasha Malek, 23, told Sigur she had just been assaulted and wanted to file a formal complaint. Malek, wearing a pink shirt and white shorts, said another cast member in the Oxygen Network show slapped her in the face and that the two wrestled to the ground before the production crew separated them.

Sigur was familiar with the premise of the show: seven women sharing a house and trying to get along for seven weeks, sometimes amid shouting and fights. He asked whether the fight was part of a script.

In fact, concerns about how the production might affect the Chateau Estates neighborhood before it even started prompted some neighbors to complain about the project. As a result, the show's producers paid for off-duty police officers and vowed to keep the Chateau Estates recording work inside thehouse, avoiding city efforts to close down the production.

Tuesday night's incident did not impact neighbors because it occurred inside the home, still owned by former New Orleans Hornets head coach Byron Scott.

What happened in the house, as Malek explained to Sigur, resulted from 23-year-old Natashia Townsend being unfriendly since the production began.

"(T)his has been going on since the beginning," she told Sigur. "This girl is 200 pounds, and I am prettier than her and she doesn't like it." In the police report, written by officer Peter Foltz, Townsend is described as 5 feet 4 inches tall and 150 pounds. Malek is listed as 5-4 and 110.

Townsend told police she had grabbed a garbage bag and was trying to put some of Malek's belongings init. She said it was Malek who struck her in the face.

In the end, police issued summonses to both women. (Read the summonses.)

Sam Burns, a producer for the "Bad Girls Club," according to city officials and Chateau Estate residents, would not talk about the decision to set up production in Kenner or anything that happened during the first six weeks. "I really can't comment on this at all," he said.

With the exception of Tuesday night fight, city officials said, the production hasn't attracted much local attention or added unusual traffic or crowds to Chateau Estates. No neighbors have complained, police said.

"It didn't turn out to be as big a disruption as I feared, though I know some people may disagree with me," said City Council member woman Maria DeFrancesch, whose district includes Chateau Estates.

DeFrancesch said she is working on a new ordinance to regulate television production "that can be a win-win for both us and the production company." The idea, she said, is to encourage movies and TV productions to pay for meals, hotel rooms and other services in Kenner.

For the most part, that hasn't been the case with the "Bad Girls" production, because the cast members lived in the house and spent a good bit of timing taping elsewhere, such as the French Quarter and Barbados, according to reports from neighbors.

"They weren't going out to our hotels or going out to our local restaurants," DeFrancesh said. "There was some economic impact, but not the same you get when you have a major film or major television studio in to film."

Carmen and Santos Salon owners Edenia and Manuel Villanueva made at least some money off the show, when the cast members showed up shortly after production began.

Jen Calcagno, 19, a stylist, said they came in for off-camera tanning, massages, manicures and pedicures. She described the young women as "cute. They were all pretty in their own way." She said they were accompanied by "people who were watching over them and who wouldn't let them talk too much."

Calcagno said she did pedicures on two of the women but apparently chatted a little too much. She was advised by the show's entourage that the cast members get to to know anyone in the shop too well. That way, if the they return for an on-camera session, it will look like their first visit.

Though a couple of appointments were scheduled, the women never returned, Calcagno said.

She said they seemed nice enough, and obviously new in town.

"Pretty much they didn't know where they were at," Calcagno said. "They knew they were close to New Orleans, but that's about all they knew."