Industry News :: Villaraigosa proposes eliminating film fees

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By Alison Shackelford Hewitt
Copley News Service

In an effort to promote movie and television production in Los Angeles, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Thursday announced a film-industry-friendly economic development policy that could eliminate all fees involved in filming at city facilities, including San Pedro City Hall.

Although that move would mean a loss of about $187,000 each year in city filming fees, Villaraigosa argued that the economic benefit of keeping film production in the city would greatly outweigh the loss.

The film industry provides about $25 billion each year to the Los Angeles-area economy, Villaraigosa said, and provides more than 200,000 jobs countywide.

"Many of these jobs are quality, middle-class jobs," Villaraigosa said. "The film industry is pivotal to the city's economy. ... In fact, the average scripted features -- television and commercial productions -- have a direct production-related economic impact of $150,000 to $250,000 each day they're in production."

With other states successfully luring some production away from Los Angeles with tax incentives, Villaraigosa said the city has to be equally aggressive. He voiced support for Assembly Bill 777, which would allow production companies that do 75 percent of their filming in Los Angeles to get a 12 percent tax refund.

He also indicated that he may propose reducing other city filming fees, creating new tax incentives and relaxing the permitting process for local film crews.

Andrew Silber, owner of the Whale and Ale restaurant in San Pedro, said a looser permitting process wouldn't bother him, as long as the crews obey the restrictions on their permits.

"I'm all for making it easier to film here," Silber said. "Having said that, it's a problem when their shooting schedule impacts business more than they claimed it would. If they say they'll close the street at 10 a.m., I don't care at all because I'm not losing any business, but if they then push it back to noon or 1 p.m., that's terrible for my lunch business."

The City Council will have to sign off on Villaraigosa's proposals in the coming months, starting in the council's housing, community and economic development committee.

Councilman Eric Garcetti said eliminating city filming fees was actually a goal from a film-industry conference he participated in about two years ago.

"This is a very good move by the mayor and one that, as chair of the committee, I will certainly be supporting," Garcetti said.