LA moves to revive filming slump with $1 city property deals

Key Points:

• The LA City Council approved two measures allowing micro-budget filmmakers with crews of 10 or fewer to film for free and use city-owned properties for $1 a day, aiming to reduce costs and bureaucracy for productions in Los Angeles.
• These measures are part of Councilmember Adrin Nazarian’s “Keep Hollywood Home” campaign, which seeks to make filming in LA more affordable and streamline the permitting process to retain productions in the city.
• Despite California expanding its film and TV tax credit from $350 million to $750 million, production days in LA have declined significantly, dropping 5% year-over-year and 36% below the five-year average.
• The approved motions represent Phase 1 of Nazarian’s plan, which also includes a “Made in LA” branding system, soundstage certification, and a comprehensive audit of the city’s film ecosystem.
• Phase 2 will propose further fee waivers for productions with fewer than 50 crew members, retention programs for post-production and VFX companies, daily fee caps on certified soundstages, business incentives, and a $2 million fund to support small to medium-sized productions.