The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to streamline some film permitting processes and call for an audit of FilmLA, a regional permitting organization that is trying to address a dramatic downturn in local film production.
City Council member Adlin Nazarian has spent the last year working to address production complaints about the city’s excessive red tape. The City Council did not take up two of his more important proposals, including procedural reforms related to police and fire departments.
Addressing the board, Nazarian said the package approved Wednesday was just a “step one” and further reforms would follow.
“The package in front of you is not symbolic,” he said. “It’s not theoretical. It’s not aspirational. It’s about practical reforms built from lived experience.”
Dozens of Hollywood workers and union leaders packed the halls of Congress to defend the initiative and testify to the impact working families are feeling due to the production downturn.
Debbie Piser, a hairstylist with IATSE Local 798, said she hasn’t worked in several years, warning of job losses to other states. “I have to work. We all have to work. And we all need to sleep in our own beds. We need to eat dinner with our families.”
The local effort follows Gov. Gavin Newsom’s move last year to double the state’s production incentives to $750 million. Around the same time, Mayor Karen Bass moved to ease the administrative burden on productions filming in Los Angeles, including limiting the number of city employees needed on set to one when possible.
Nazarian is looking to expand on Bass’ efforts and codify some of them into city ordinance.
Movie people have every right to be cynical about efforts to make the city “movie-friendly” that are regularly promised at L.A. City Hall.
Mayor James Hahn announced a similar initiative in 2004, saying, “We know we’ve done things like this before. A lot of people said, ‘Yes, we’ve seen this, we’ve been here, we’ve done that. But what happened?'” We work to ensure that the recommendations and policies we develop are implemented. ”
The measures approved Wednesday include the removal of “special conditions” for filming in certain areas of L.A. and efforts to harmonize requirements with other jurisdictions. The measure also establishes free permits for “microchutes” with minimal crews and limited disruption.
The council also asked the city manager to audit FilmLA, the industry governing body that issues permits and collects fees on behalf of cities and school districts.
City councilor Nithya Raman, who is running for mayor in Bath, declined to vote on four of the seven items without explanation. She voted in favor of the remaining three items, including one that would create a “Made in LA” logo that productions filming in the city could display in their end credits.
The council did not take up an item that would reduce permit costs for city-owned facilities. Most of these locales are free to shoot. However, obtaining permits can be more difficult for certain high-demand locations, such as the Griffith Park Observatory.
Nazarian also proposed additional ideas, including a $2 million “seed fund” to subsidize small productions and quickly permit post-production facilities. Those ideas may be adopted later.
FilmLA CEO Dennis Gatches said FilmLA has been working with the city on many of these issues since last year.
“Today’s vote reveals an unprecedented level of interest from the greater Los Angeles community in doing things differently, and we look forward to working closely with our partners across the city to make on-location filming as affordable, accessible and easy as possible,” Gatches said in a statement.
