L.A. film permit rules anger location managers

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Talk about mixed messages.

Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to take a series of steps aimed at helping the film and TV industry. They pledged to reduce parking costs and install electrical utility outlets in frequently used locations to eliminate the need for generators. And they agreed to at least explore idea of offering a business tax break for productions that shoot in the city, dovetailing recent decision by the state Legislature to adopt film tax credits.

The incentives were recommended in a recent report requested by Council President Eric Garcetti after the ABC television show ‘Ugly Betty’ moved its production from LA to New York last summer.

‘We need to do what we can to keep production where it belongs - in the entertainment capital of the world,’’ Garcetti said in a statement.

But even as Garcetti touted the vote in a press release, location managers and others in the industry were fuming about city plans to impose a raft of new restrictions on film permitting. The proposed rules are aimed at balancing the needs of filmmakers with the concerns of residents, who’ve complained loudly in recent years about excessive filming in their neighborhoods and a lack of enforcement of film permits.

But critics say the proposed rules only make filming in the city less attractive. For example, a filmmaker would have to wait 5 days before he could close a street for a film shoot. FilmL.A., Inc., the nonprofit group that coordinates film permits, typically requires 72 hours notice, but makes exceptions depending on where the shoot is occuring, and the needs of filmmakers.

‘There is too much rigidity here for us to be able to get our jobs done,’’ said Ed Duffy, business agent for Teamsters Local 399, which represents location managers, casting directors and studio drivers. ‘Filming is not an exact science. We do things in a very rapid fashion and things change constantly for us.’

Location managers will take their concerns to City Hall on Tuesday, when the City Council will discuss the propsed new rules. Expect a large turnout.

-Richard Verrier