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Author
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Topic: LA residents frustrated by filming on city streets
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Michael Gonzalez
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 790
From: Grand Island , NE USA
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted 06-16-2003 10:22 PM
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) - When a blinding light awoke Jonathan Jerald at 3 a.m. in his downtown loft, he briefly thought he was being kidnapped by aliens.
"I was terrified for a second, and then, of course, I knew what it was," Jerald said.
The light was part of a film shoot - one of thousands of commercials, television shows and movies filmed on city streets each year.
The film industry says such shoots are minor annoyances that bring big money and jobs to the region.
But in Los Angeles County, where 44,000 days worth of filming occurred last year, many residents have had enough.
They want the City Council to give neighborhoods more control over the way film shoots are conducted on their streets.
"I bought a house on a residential street," Van Nuys resident Joe Montoya told the City Council. "I didn't buy on a back lot."
The film industry is not taking the charge lightly. It has warned that if residents get to micromanage film permits, studios will take their productions - and thousands of jobs - elsewhere.
"Producers have a lot of choices these days...from as close as San Diego to as far away as Australia, Canada, Eastern Europe," said Melissa Patack, vice president of the Motion Picture Association of America.
Pamm Fair, deputy national executive director of the Screen Actors Guild, cautioned that many jobs are on the line.
After the film industry's warnings, the council recently shied away from Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski's proposal to let neighborhood councils help draft new regulations for the agency that hands out the film permits.
The members instead asked an accounting firm to meet with residents to try to incorporate their suggestions without scaring away movie makers. The meetings were scheduled to begin this week.
But many residents wonder whether that will be enough.
Residents in neighborhoods across Los Angeles and surrounding unincorporated county areas say their sleep is interrupted by the bright Klieg lights, simulated gunfights and staged car crashes. They also complain that the crews take up valuable parking spaces.
Much of the solution lies with the embattle Entertainment Industry Development Corp., a nonprofit agency that facilitates film shoots in the area and provides the permits. Last fall the corporation came under attack after officials began investigating it for misuse of funds.
The agency is now being overhauled. But some residents say the investigation ignored the way the agency allowed producers to do whatever they want on residential streets.
Part of the problem is that permits are issued so quickly, residents say they don't have time to respond.
"We're not secret agents from Canada," said Jerald, who serves on the downtown neighborhood council. "We don't want to get rid of production. We just want it to be reasonable.
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Bill Gabel
Film God
Posts: 3873
From: Technicolor / Postworks NY, USA
Registered: Jan 2002
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posted 06-18-2003 10:29 AM
As a former location manager, as Phil said "Before any permit can be issued the residents or business has 2 weeks notice." In Los Angeles you have to give notice to and get signatures from everyone within 500 feet of the location that is being used. And if you plan to start shooting before 7am or after 10pm. In giving notice to the residents or business, you have to tell them about early starts and the use of Special FX (guns, noise, etc..) The location manager also has to plan on were all the trucks are going to park. He has to arange with the permit office how much street space for production trucks. And order no parking signs from the permit office. (Each sign costs $20) He also has to arange were the crew is going to park. Some residential streets are permit parking only. Another item is if you plan to put dolly track on a public sidewalk. The production also has to hire a Fire Safety Officer (FSO) during all shooting. And if you plan to block off traffic, they have to hide Police for the set. If you plan in your shoot to wet down the street that has tobe in the permit. (You can block traffic for up to 2 minutes only) If you plan to block off traffic you have to hire 2 Police officers. If your blocking off a highway you now add the California Highway Patrol into the budget. That's 2 officers, plus cars (Mileage, Gas are not included), you add that to the fee. As for financial compensation as Mathew said "It depends on area" In the above acticle it stated that, that person lived in a loft in downtown Los Angeles. Well thats the problem. In the downtown area of Los Angeles alot of landlords have turned old warehouses into loft residents. Like here in SOHO and Tribeca areas of New York. To a location manager they look like old warehouses. And they are very hard to get into with alot of fences and intercoms. So filming at around 3am would be ok, because it's an industrial area not residential. If the location manager is doing his job right, everyone is informed about the filming. But every shoot you get a whinely person looking to make a buck. California needs the productions to stay in the state.
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