Mayor Karen Bass on Tuesday, May 20, announced a new policy to make it easier and more affordable to film in Los Angeles — part of a growing effort by lawmakers to keep entertainment jobs local as productions increasingly relocate to other states and nations.
The mayor’s executive order directs city departments to lower filming costs, speed up permit reviews, and give crews easier access to popular locations like the Griffith Observatory, the Central Library and the Port of LA. It also reduces the number of city staff required on set, and calls for better notice about construction projects that might affect shooting schedules.
Bass announced the order alongside Councilmember Adrin Nazarian and a dozen film industry members during a Tuesday morning press conference at the headquarters of SAG-AFTRA, the labor union representing more than 160,000 actors and media professionals nationwide.
“We know that we are the global capital of entertainment, and that means that this industry is a pillar in our city,” Bass said. “It’s not just about movies and TV shows. It’s about good pay, union jobs, middle-class livelihood, small business success and the economic strength of our city, one of our defining industries.”
The mayor also reiterated her support for the state legislature to pass Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal to expand the California Film & Television Tax Credit Program from $330 million to $750 million annually, which aims to make California more competitive with other regions offering generous production incentives. That proposal comes as the state faces a projected $12 billion deficit.
Bass on Tuesday acknowledged the expanded tax credit may be scaled back but called it a necessary investment.
“I know when we did it the first time, it was important for legislators to understand that all communities benefit, especially if you think of all the ancillary businesses, like have been mentioned here,” she said. “You might not think of the caterer, or the florists, or any of the tailors that benefit from the industry.”
The executive order and state tax credit proposal reflect mounting pressure on California lawmakers to stop productions–and the jobs they bring—from relocating to more film friendly cities across the country and the world.
A few weeks earlier, the L.A. City Council unanimously approved a motion led by Councilmember Adrin Nazarian to lower fees, reduce red tape, and streamline the permitting process for productions in LA.
Speaking at the conference, Nazarian described his motion and the mayor’s executive order as sharing “a lot of brother-sister love”.
“This is not about superstar actors and actresses, this is not about executives,” Nazarian said. “This is about carpenters, about craft services, about all night dry cleaners.”
Film union leaders and producers described a local industry still reeling from years of disruption, including the pandemic, Hollywood strikes and shrinking demand for content.
“This is a very difficult time for our members, as film and television production has drained away from California in search of richer production centers,” said Vanessa Holtgrewe, international vice president at IATSE, the union representing theatrical stage employees and other behind-the-scenes film workers.
She added: “Los Angeles, as the home to our industry for a century and the place with the largest entertainment industry workforce in the entire world, has been particularly hard hit. For some of our locals, unemployment is reaching close to 50%.”
Jamie Patricof, a film/TV producer and a member of Producers United, said he’s produced more than 20 films in recent years, from Prague to Charlotte, but only two were shot in LA.
“This has to change, and the mayor is taking the right actions to be done,” he said. “We want to film here, but we leave because we have to.”
Patricof pointed to a combination of bureaucracy, staffing mandates and additional costs that make L.A. less attractive than other cities. But above it all, he said, it comes down to financial incentives.
“And as it’s known, L.A. and California’s tax incentives are not competitive with many of the states in America and a lot of places around the world,” he said. “So because of that, we have an uphill battle until the state legislature passes a new tax credit incentive.”
Austin James Wolff, a L.A.-based filmmaker, said he welcomed the mayor’s efforts but hopes the reforms go even further.
“I like the idea of streamlining the permit process, but I also think that if the mayor wants to be radical in bringing productions back to Hollywood,” he said in an interview Tuesday afternoon. “In my opinion, it would be great if they got rid of all of the permit fees, in total.”
Wolff said he filmed a feature in L.A. last year and faced significant delays and unexpected expenses just to secure the right to shoot.
“It took too long to get the permits and they were too expensive,” he said. “Also, there’s so many fees and it almost felt like they were double dipping the amount of fees that we were paying.”
As an example, he said it costs between $2,000 to $5,000 per day to shoot in a public park in L.A., depending on crew size. By contrast, he said, Simi Valley charges under $1,000 and typically process permits within 48 hours.
“So it’s almost half to ⅕ of the cost to shoot in a place like Simi Valley and it’s even cheaper if you go out of state as well,” he said. “So I think that if L.A. wants to bring productions back to Hollywood we need to greatly reduce the amount of fees that we are paying in permits.”