The Los Angeles City Council has approved two proposals to slash filming permit costs, including one that would lower fees for shooting on qualified city facilities to $1 or a legally required minimum, in an effort to bring entertainment jobs back to Hollywood.
The council approved an ordinance to formally establish a free permit for micro-shoots, allowing productions with 10 or fewer people to shoot without paying the fee. Separately, the council voted to move forward with a study of how to cut fees for filming on city-owned properties to $1.
“Today marks a major milestone for the Keep Hollywood Home campaign,” said Councilman Adrin Nazarian, who authored the proposals and chairs the council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Film, Entertainment and the Creative Industry. “With these latest actions, all Phase 1 motions have now been approved by the city”.
The Production Slump
The city’s film initiatives come amid a continued decline in on-location filming. FilmLA reported there were 4,171 shoot days from July through September, a 4.8% decrease from the 4,380 recorded during the same period last year. Overall filming was also down about 11.5% from the second quarter and roughly 38.5% below the average for the third quarter during the previous five years.
LA County has lost more than 40,000 production jobs since 2022, according to federal data. Adrian McDonald, formerly lead researcher for FilmLA, said the decline is driven by competition from other jurisdictions and a drop in the number of scripted television shows being made. “Seasons are a lot shorter,” he said.
The Tax Credit Paradox
At the same time, productions receiving state tax credits accounted for 40.3% of scripted on-location filming, nearly double their share a year earlier, according to FilmLA. California expanded its film and television tax credit program from $330 million to $750 million annually last year.
But the expansion has not been enough to reverse the overall trend. McDonald said a major $150 million movie is not going to base its decision on whether it can get a reduced fee at a city parking lot. “That said, anything you can do to improve the perception that your city or jurisdiction is film-friendly is important,” he added.
The Bottom Line
Los Angeles has approved free filming permits for micro-shoots and moved to cut fees on city-owned properties to $1, as on-location production continues to decline despite California’s expanded tax credit program. The city has lost more than 40,000 production jobs since 2022, and shoot days are nearly 40% below the five-year average. Officials say the permit reforms are a first step toward making LA more film-friendly, but industry experts warn that fee cuts alone will not bring back major productions.
My Opinion
Making filming permits free is a good idea but it is also nowhere near enough. Los Angeles lost more than 40,000 production jobs since 2022. Shoot days are nearly 40% below the five-year average. And the city’s response is to waive a few hundred dollars in permit fees for small shoots.
The tax credit expansion to $750 million was supposed to help. But productions are still leaving. They are going to Georgia, to the UK, to Canada — places that offer more generous incentives, lower labor costs, and fewer bureaucratic hurdles. A $1 permit for a city parking lot does not change that math.
The problem is not that filming in LA is too expensive; the problem is that filming in LA is too hard. Too many permits. Too many agencies. Too many hoops to jump through. If the city wants Hollywood to stay, it needs to reform the entire process, not just the price tag.
