L.A. Mayor Vows to Cut Red Tape and Make It Easier to Shoot Movies and Shows In the City

Yahoo

6 days ago

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass is advancing efforts to streamline film and television production in Los Angeles amid cries for further policymaker intervention on the issue of runaway production.
Bass calls for a reduction of city staffers on shoots and improved access for crews to iconic Los Angeles locations like the Griffith Observatory, the Central Public Library and the Port of Los Angeles in an executive order that was signed Tuesday at the L.A. headquarters of performers' union SAG-AFTRA. The directive further enlists city departments to cut red tape and help ease basic production headaches in a bid to improve the city's friendliness to filmmakers.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
AI Is Disrupting Commercial Shoots, But Actors May Get New Guardrails
SAG-AFTRA Files Unfair Labor Practice Charge Over Darth Vader AI Voice in 'Fortnite'
Can Cannes Help California Get Its Groove Back?
At SAG-AFTRA on Tuesday, Bass emphasized that Hollywood supports middle-class jobs, small businesses and the city's economy. Her executive order, she said, 'will make it far easier to film in Los Angeles movies, television shows and commercials.'
Specifically, the order, which takes effect immediately, directs city departments to create a process such that 'no more than one total City staff member is required to be on-site at a filming location.' Currently, at any one time multiple municipal employees, from off-duty and retired cops to park monitors, might be on a film production as it's shooting locally.
The directive further orders a reduction of filming fees at Griffith Observatory and the reopening of downtown's Central Public Library to production. The Port of Los Angeles, meanwhile, is required to cut its insurance review process from seven to four business days, while the Department of Water and Power is instructed to create 'procedures and safeguards' so filming can take place at its facilities.
The mayor also calls for departments to review all 'City assets' to see if they could be utilized by film crews as locations and/or parking, among other potential uses, and to put forward proposals on how to allow night-time scouting on city-owned locations.
The executive order requires police and fire departments, among others, to meet with the mayor's office and industry stakeholders including local film office FilmLA on a monthly basis to solve 'any ongoing issues' that shoots are encountering. Departments are ordered to provide notice to potential and upcoming public infrastructure projects that could impact filming to her office and FilmLA.
At SAG-AFTRA on Tuesday, Bass said the film industry has been complaining about 'bureaucracy, bureaucracy, red tape' when it comes to filming in the city, which this order aims to resolve.
During the press conference, various entertainment union leaders spoke to the difficulties their members have faced amid a downturn in local production. Vanessa Holtgrewe, an international vp of the crew union IATSE, said multiple Locals are facing unemployment of nearly 50 percent. Added Lindsay Dougherty, who oversees motion picture work for the Teamsters, the executive order 'could not come at a better time,' with workers and small businesses 'devastated' by the lack of local work in the industry.
Jamie Patricof, a member of the grassroots advocacy group Producers United, said he's shot films all over the globe but only two in Los Angeles. (The recent release The Accountant 2, which Patricof executive produced, is one of them, having shot scenes in downtown L.A., Santa Clarita and Simi Valley.) 'This has to change and the mayor is taking right actions to do that,' Patricof said.
The move comes after the L.A. City Council passed a measure penned by Councilmember Adrin Nazarian in late April that pushed city departments to propose efforts to reform the city's film permitting process.
'The entertainment industry has been the reason why Los Angeles was put on the map,' Nazarian said at Tuesday's press conference. But 'over the course of the last 30-40 years, we've fallen asleep,' he added, by allowing production to go to other states and countries. 'All we need to do is keep up with everybody else.'
Meanwhile, state legislators are currently reviewing bills that would amplify California's film and television tax credit program after Gov. Gavin Newsom called for more than doubling the cap on the state's program, from $330 million to $750 million. But there are concerns that these measures might not get the green light as the state faces a $12 billion budget shortfall.
When asked whether she thought the $750 million proposal would pass, Bass said it was possible that figure would be reduced. Still, she said, 'I think people recognize the $700 million as an investment.'
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
How the Warner Brothers Got Their Film Business Started
Meet the World Builders: Hollywood's Top Physical Production Executives of 2023
Men in Blazers, Hollywood's Favorite Soccer Podcast, Aims for a Global Empire