Matt Miller, president and CEO of the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), announced today that the AICP, on the recommendation of the AICP/West Board of Directors, has moved to officially support two candidates in the race for Mayor of Los Angeles: L.A. City Controller Wendy Greuel and L.A. City Council Member Eric Garcetti.
Los Angeles County is the number one location for on-location commercial filming in the U.S. The area represents 46 percent of all shoot days produced by AICP member companies; contributing over $1.2 billion in direct production expenditures to the state of California in 2011 alone. “The next Mayor will play a key role in maintaining the City of Los Angeles as a film-friendly location for commercial producers,” said Miller. “The new administration must continue encouraging job creation, streamlining the film permit process with city departments, as well as incentivizing more production in the region.”
Both Greuel and Garcetti have a tested and true track record of being strong supporters of the commercial production industry in Los Angeles. In 2004 both spearheaded the initial efforts to reduce the tax liability on film productions, establishing a restructured Entertainment Production Cap for production companies doing business in Los Angeles. This resulted in significant savings to over 500 companies–many of them smaller, privately held companies focused in commercials.
“Greuel and Garcetti’s leadership in mutual issues of interest to the commercial production industry has been unparalleled for well over the past decade,” noted Miller, “which is why our West Board voted that AICP should support both candidates in this important race. We believe that either would fulfill the promise of keeping Los Angeles the production capital of the commercial industry. We are fortunate to have such options and proud to support both of these candidates.”
Wendy Greuel
“Wendy has supported the production industry throughout her career, especially since being elected to the City Council in 2002,” related Miller. “She has fought against the motivations for so-called ‘runaway production’ and helped the commercial industry regain its competitive edge in Los Angeles.”
Earlier in her career, Greuel was instrumental in creating FilmLA (the non-profit agency that coordinates and processes permits for on-location production in the Los Angeles region), recognizing that timely turnaround of film permit approvals are key to a successful commercial production industry, and understands how costly delays to filming can be–especially in the commercials sector.
“As Mayor, I see my role as the number one supporter of filming in Los Angeles,” said Greuel, who has voiced her support for a state tax credit for commercials. “We need to make Los Angeles more business friendly. It is important that we maintain a robust infrastructure, not only for the commercial producers, but also the companies that support them.”
Eric Garcetti
“Over the last decade as a City Council member, Garcetti has displayed a strong understanding of commercial production, and has been an advocate of policies beneficial to our membership,” said Miller.
As chair of the Los Angeles City Council’s Jobs and Business Development Committee, Garcetti introduced a resolution in 2012 supporting the California State film production tax credit and further requested that initiatives and resources be expanded not just in the areas of TV and Feature Films but that the State’s initiatives include commercials. As Council president in 2009, he helped establish a Citywide Film Tax Force that convenes department heads to troubleshoot and cut through bureaucracy, and authored legislation that asks the task force to engage with County and Metro departments. He has additionally worked on several initiatives to streamline the producers work on location–which accounts for greater than 75% of all commercial shoot days.
“I am proud to have earned support from the Association of Independent Commercial Producers,” said Garcetti. “Commercials are an important engine of job creation, and as mayor, I will keep leading the fight to keep commercial production here to grow our economy.”
