Two Years After First Go At RFP, Filming Contract Still a No-Go
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — More than two years after the City began a process intended to revamp its film permitting contract, the effort sits stalled. Next week, the city will likely vote to renew its contract with permitter FilmL.A. for another six months, pushing that deal's finish date to the end of 2009.
Years ago now, Council directed two city departments to prepare a Request for Proposals to see who might be interested in handling permitting and notification services. The first draft of that document was presented in November of 2007, but didn't make it out of committee. A revised draft was presented in September of 2008, but again failed to win the support needed for approval.
In the process, the city's contract with FilmL.A. has gotten several short-term bumps. A six-month extension was approved by Council in May of 2008, with two additional 90-day options. That deal's up in June, and the city doesn't expect an RFP to get responses before September. Given the document's history, even that may be optimistic. The extension would push the deal until the end of the year, with again the 90-day options to provide potential coverage until mid-2010.
Downtowners have often criticized FilmL.A.'s handling of notification and permitting. While production in Los Angeles is down overall, Downtown still sees a a highly concentrated level of activity with multiple shoots each day.
The contract extension will be heard by council's Public Works committee on Wednesday, February 18.
Benjamin Pezzillo on February 15, 2009, at 02:37PM – #1
It's amazing that during this time of City Hall budget concerns there is not a concerted effort by the CAO and City Council to bring the film permit revenue back into the general fund.
It would be very easy for the LAPD Special Events units to expand their legal responsibility in reviewing and okaying film permits by adding staff to the customer service component.
In any event, if a contractor is chosen to perform this work for the City of Los Angeles, that contractor needs to report those addresses that exceed occasional use of property for commercial filming so that the existing laws can be enforced to prevent burnout that now plagues many corners of Los Angeles because of prior lack of enforcement of the Los Angeles Municipal Code.