Nimby Speech by Chip (Will Arnett) in Flaked

Chip (played by Will Arnett in the Netflix series Flaked) comes to his Venice (Calif) neighborhood council meeting, at first, he thinks, to oppose a new infill project (a hotel). He represents a BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything) cause named “SaVenice”, as in Save Venice, a beachfront neighborhood on the west side of the city of Los Angeles. But he has an on-site conversion at the last minute when he realizes his NIMBY (not in my backyard) instincts might be misplaced. 

This is not a speech I thought we would ever hear from a Hollywood actor or be written by any Los Angeles-based screenwriters (Will Arnett, Mark Chappell, Nikki Schiefelbein).

Key characters you see are London (aka Claire) played by Irish lass Ruth Kearney (the blond in the scene) and Chip’s best friend, Dennis, played by David Sullivan. He’s the one with the bandage on his forehead. Also prominent in this clip are George (the black police officer and Chip AA sponsor played by Robert Wisdom) and Topher, the goofy looking tech billionaire played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse. It’s Topher who is the proponent of the new development, and his sarcastic looks tell the viewer he is expecting Chip to come out in opposition to his hotel project.

My youngest daughter also pointed out that Venice itself is a key character in the series–a big observation IMHO.

Anyway, what Chip realizes is that every time they welcome another small business or store or new development to their community, every time another resident moves in or someone else gets a job, the neighborhood becomes safer, the community more interesting, diverse and prosperous, and real estate values go up not down. He understands that everyone was once an “in-migrant” to Venice so let’s not now be hypocrites by pulling up the drawbridge and telling everyone else to, “Keep out.”

Change is scary, but sometimes it’s good. Be open to change he tells his friends and neighbors. 

@ profbruce

Series produced by:

Electric Avenue Productions

Thousand Words

Hurwitz Company

The Electus

Principato-Young Entertainment

postscript: if you want to know how to not reanimate a city or town, check out what the state government of New Jersey is doing vis-a-vis Atlantic City, https://profbruce.tumblr.com/post/141720589834/reanimating-atlantic-city