It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. The latter is self-explanatory given the ongoing spot actors’ strike which, since its May 1 start, has taken its toll on commercial filming throughout the Golden State, particularly in Greater Los Angeles. Though final figures for June weren’t in at press time, the number of spot filming permits issued in Los Angeles County was well behind the pace of the same month in ’99. The downturn began in May with 418 film permits issued for commercial location lensing in Los Angeles County. That’s a 23 percent decrease from the tally of 544 in May ’99, according to comparative figures released by the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. (EIDC), the public/private sector partnership that oversees the joint Los Angeles City/ County Film Office.
Word is that a significant amount of this lost business has simply fled Los Angeles to escape picket lines, with shoots instead taking place in right-to-work states, Canada and overseas. EIDC president Cody Cluff guesstimated that Los Angeles could be losing as much as $1 million a day due to the strike by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) against the advertising industry. As chronicled in SHOOT, even before the strike, a growing share of American spot work was going overseas for a mix of reasons, including creative considerations, production cost efficiencies, and savings that could be realized via actor talent buyouts as compared to the considerably more expensive residual payments system.
At the same time, the glass is half full as well as half emptyait’s all a matter of perspective. With the spot strike circumstance out of its control, California has nonetheless managed to make some recent, encouraging strides in its effort to combat runaway production. As part of his proposed state budget for fiscal year 2000-’01, Gov. Gray Davis (D-Calif.) has introduced a series of measures designed to encourage filming in California, and to counter production-related financial incentives offered by other states and countries. At press time, a budget conference committee comprised of members of the State Senate and Assembly had passed the centerpiece of Gov. Davis’ anti-runaway proposalathe "Film California First Program"afor inclusion in the upcoming California budget.
The "Film California First Program" would allocate $15 million annually for each of the next three years "to reimburse state and local [government] agencies for the costs they incur for television and film productions in their jurisdictions." If passed, this would translate into commercial, feature, TV, and music video producers realizing certain savings, including reimbursement of state and federal employee costs related to filming, and local public costs for fire services and non-police public safety.
Additionally, federal permit and rental costs would be eligible for reimbursement. The "Film California First Program" fund would be administered by the California Trade & Commerce Agency’s Office of Economic Development, in conjunction with the California Film Commission (CFC).
Legislative language has been drafted and incorporated into a bill (AB 484) by Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) that would enable the state budget to carry the proper funding for the "Film California First Program." AB 484 should sound familiar due to the number of the bill. Last year, Kuehl introduced AB 484 as a measure advocating a state tax rebate for qualified labor costs on certain productions. That bill died on the vine (SHOOT, 9/10/99), but now AB 484 covers another means to help stem runaway production that appears to have a good chance of passage.
