82.1 F
San Fernando
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Film, TV Work Needs More Focus

The numbers tell the story of this region’s problem with runaway film production: In 2007, there were 54,871 permitted production days in Los Angeles County. Just two years later in 2009, that figure plummeted by 30 percent. Film, television and commercial productions have been bolting from Los Angeles – the heart of these industries – for states and countries with better tax incentives and more business-friendly policies. While California was home to 65 percent of studio feature film production in 2003, it only held a little more than 30 percent by 2008. It was in 2009 that the state enacted its first tax incentive package for filming, because officials found themselves having to provide similar incentives to attract and retain an industry that was historically securely located in Los Angeles. In 2012, the county’s film intake seemed back on track, with the region seeing 46,254 permitting production days – a strong uptick from the 2009 low. The city of Los Angeles recently voted to waive permitting fees for television pilots, to compete with New York, Vancouver, Atlanta and Toronto, all cities taking a large share of pilots. It is true that local and state legislators are enacting policies that specifically welcome more filming and entertainment business back into the region. However, the devil is in the details, and the Los Angeles region has recently made decisions that still send a message that we’re heavily relying on a past reputation. Recently, L.A. County enacted film permitting fees for Grand Park, where Joseph Gordon Levitt danced to “You Make My Dreams Come True” in the dream sequence in the movie “500 Days of Summer.” A one-block portion of the downtown park originally cost a whopping $20,000 in permitting fees – much more expensive than other blocks that average $1,500. The Valley Industry & Commerce Association along with various film entities fought long and hard to get the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to eliminate the fees, but instead it voted only to decrease the charges to $6,000 per block, still four times the average permitting price. VICA and the entertainment industry also had to approach City Hall when it installed neon green bike lanes on historical Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. This corridor is unique to Los Angeles, in that it has been the backdrop to every time period and every large city, most recently portraying New York City in “Mad Men.” If the city had consulted the largest user of that corridor – film and television producers – it would have learned that the green reflects onto props and actors’ faces, and that post-production removal of the neon lanes along the popular filming spot is tremendously expensive. After weeks of discussion, a compromise was finally reached to repaint the lanes a less-obtrusive shade of green, and to seek alternative designs that are less impactful in future bike lanes. Our elected officials are doing a good job of creating reactionary policies that try to recapture lost filming. But where they fail is taking a more proactive approach at setting general policy that is friendlier to entertainment. When the green bike lanes were approved, how did no one consider the fact that they completely change the face of one of the most popular stretches of Los Angeles for iconic and historical filming? When the entertainment industry has to devote this amount of time for small – but extremely costly – issues in their headquarters of L.A. County, it only fuels the arguments that there are better places to film and to move operations. In fact, Movie Maker magazine recommends that filmmakers should set their flags in Austin, Texas; Seattle and New York City before Los Angeles. The San Fernando Valley in particular is home to most of the entertainment industry, which generated $120 billion in Gross Domestic Product and employed almost 250,000 wage, salary and contract workers in L.A. County in 2011. In addition another 580,000 jobs in the county are indirectly tied to the field. Austin and Seattle would love to have those half-million workers and economic output – and would paint the streets the right shade of green the first time in order to get them. The Valley Industry and Commerce Association is a business advocacy organization based in Sherman Oaks that represents employers throughout the Los Angeles County region at the local, state and federal levels of government.

Featured Articles

Related Articles