To woo Hollywood, L.A. to extend fee waivers to film on city property
By Michael Fleeman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Los Angeles city council approved measures on Tuesday to keep coveted film and TV production in the city by extending fee waivers to shoot on municipal property, including City Hall, which has served as a location for TV's “Scandal” and “Newsroom” and the movie “Gangster Squad.” By a 15-0 vote, the council also approved a plan to streamline the film-location permit process among city departments and keep better records, create a customer survey for production company feedback and build a database of city properties available for filming. After years of losing production to other states and countries, California has been aggressively courting Hollywood to keep closer to home in recent months. In the biggest overture, Governor Jerry Brown signed a $330 million annual tax credit in September, more than tripling the previous incentive of $100 million. By approving a five-year extension of existing fee waivers, Los Angeles will lose at least $350,000 a year in revenue through 2019 - perhaps considerably more if the state tax incentives lead to a sharp boost in production. But city officials say that money will be more than offset by the economic benefits. "Film and TV production is our signature industry and continues to be a major economic engine,” said City Councilman Paul Krekorian, chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Film and TV Production Jobs. “The steps that the City Council took today send a strong message that L.A. intends to remain the entertainment capital of the world." The waivers apply to city parks, libraries, police stations and airports, though not to the Convention Center, the Mexican-themed Olvera Street area and the Los Angeles Zoo. Once signed by Mayor Eric Garcetti, who supports the waivers, the measure will go into effect retroactively to July 1. With thousands of California jobs dependent on film and television, the economy of the nation's most populous state has taken a $2 billion hit in the last four years as producers have left for cheaper places to do business, according to the California Film Commission. (Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Eric Walsh)
