Last month, the city of Los Angeles took the first step in possibly requesting competitive bids to contract out coordination of permits for on-location filming. The move is the first time the city will accept such proposals since the non-profit agency, FilmLA, took over the coordination of filming permits in 1995. Then it was known as the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. The current FilmLA contract, worth in the range of $470,000, expires in June. The City Administrative Office sent out a request for information to gauge interest by other permit service companies in taking on the contract. They also wanted to receive comments and suggestions from residents about their experiences with filming in the city. The office set an initial deadline of Aug. 24 and then extended it a week. FilmLA responded by the first deadline, said President Steve MacDonald. “We’ve been doing well and are constantly looking for ways to improve systems and procedures,” MacDonald said. As of Sept. 13, an analyst with the CAO’s office was still sifting through responses to divide them up between community comments and companies interested in the contract. A representative in the CAO’s office said that it appeared the number of responses would warrant issuing a request for proposals sometime in October. The City Council is not dissatisfied with the job FilmLA is doing but they have been on record for several years for wanting to put the permit services out to bid, MacDonald said. FilmLA also contracts with Los Angeles County, Los Angeles Unified School District, the Burbank Unified School District, the National Forest Service, Diamond Bar and City of Industry for film permitting services. As permit coordinator, the agency’s primary role is to work with city departments, such as police, fire and transportation, when a production company films on a public street. They also notify residents 48 hours in advance of filming. The agency also collects fees from the production companies to pay for city services used during filming. Last year, FilmLA remitted $5.2 million in fees to the city, MacDonald said. In its request for information, the City Administrative Officer asked potential bidders several questions: what areas need improvement in the permitting process; suggestions of effective measures to coordinate filming with the city; identification of costs the city and film industry may incur; and whether one organization should do both permit coordination and notification services or if separate contracts should be awarded. Based on the responses received, the city will follow up with a request for proposals to provide the services. Since they have been doing it for so long, FilmLA has the most experience, said Greg Lippe, chairman of the government affairs committee for the Valley Industry and Commerce Association. “I don’t see a need to put it out to bid unless the city feels they should be doing that with everything,” Lippe said. “I don’t think there is anybody else out there who is prepared to do that job.” There are five companies in the county hired by production companies to work with FilmLA to coordinate permits. The five, which include companies in Woodland Hills and Westlake Village, have a pending lawsuit against FilmLA and the city alleging they are being driven out of business by discriminatory and unfair treatment. In the request for information, the CAO states that since 1994 approximately 98 percent of on-location filming received no associated citizen complaints. However, the large amount of filming still results in a “significant” amount of complaints about parking and traffic issues; lack of notification; behavior of film crew; and noise, lights and trash, the CAO said. FilmLA often finds itself on the receiving end of those complaints. “People blame us when a production company stays over time,” MacDonald said. While conceding there have been mistakes by FilmLA, MacDonald added that the agency has taken steps to better notify residents. In the downtown arts district, for example, residents receive notifications by e-mail. MacDonald said he hopes to expand that service to other parts of the city as there are instances, such as with multi-family buildings, where staff cannot get in to post paper notices.