LA cuts permit costs for ‘low-impact’ films

The Los Angeles Film Department on Tuesday unveiled a six-month pilot program aimed at removing cost barriers to small-scale shoots, as protests over Hollywood’s production slump have snowballed politically. campaign issues.

film LA‘s new “Low Impact Permit Pilot Program” will reduce the city’s typical permit fees for smaller productions with cast and crew of less than 30 people. This program only applies to productions filming in up to three locations over up to three consecutive days.

For those who qualify, the application fee will be reduced from the regular $931 to $350 and the notification fee will be reduced from $250 per location to $156 per location. The LA Fire Department on-site inspection fee ($285) is also waived for these shoots. The initiative is scheduled to go into effect from April 27.

Based on these criteria, the program appears to be geared toward microdramas, small student films, and a variety of new media productions, but not most professional feature films, television series, and commercials.

The plans were announced at a press event at Echelon Studios, a massive production complex under construction in Hollywood. There, Mayor Karen Bass also announced a Department of Transportation pilot program that will reduce city parking costs by 20 percent for all productions. same privilege affordable Baywatch Among them Problems filming in Venice Beach. The city also announced that it is working with Echelon’s developers to expedite the permitting process.

The pilot program came out of the Public Works Committee in June 2025. hearing The issue concerns the renewal of FilmLA’s contract with the city. In the aftermath of the Palisades and Eaton fires, FilmLA came under fire for presenting additional barriers to filmmakers and production teams that made filming in the city too cumbersome and expensive, critics said.

The Public Utilities Commission extended the organization’s contract for another five years, but after hearing from angry blue-collar workers, the organization was asked to do so.

One of them was for a tiered permit system. “There were a lot of complaints at the time that there was no tiered permitting system in the FilmLA ecosystem,” Public Works Committee member Steve Kang said in an interview Tuesday. “There was a request from the commission to develop a tiered permit system, and it was the biggest request at the time. So that was the driving force behind this conversation and the big announcement today from FilmLA and the Board of Directors.”

FilmLA’s board of directors agreed to cover the costs of the new program for up to six months from the organization’s operating reserves. In a statement, FilmLA CEO Denise Gutches takes the position after FilmLA’s previous CEO. Retire in fall 2025 Amid ongoing controversy over the organization’s role in LA’s production exodus — the organization said it believes “the city and FilmLA review process should be simple when community impact is small, regardless of project type or production budget.”

We’ll collect data during the pilot program to determine how to turn it into a long-term commitment. But LA City Council member Adrin Nazarian has bigger goals than simply creating a low-cost tier for small-scale shoots, Kang says. drive motion Removing barriers for filming with cast and crew of 50 or fewer people.

“Today was an all under 30s event, but we are also working closely with Councilor Nazarian and this motion is going through the normal legislative process to potentially raise the threshold in the future,” Councilor Kang said.

When asked if the ultimate ambition is to create a much broader tiered permit system applicable to large-scale productions, Kang said: “Yes, that’s right.”