As the world’s entertainment production capital, Los Angeles is a different kind of place to live and work. In most other places in the world, seeing a film crew working out on location is a rare sight (and a bit of a treat).  In Los Angeles, home to over 55,000 permitted days of production per year, our perspective is a little different.

Here, all those film crews represent L.A.’s robust creative workforce and our region’s worldwide leadership in entertainment production.  A thriving local film business means jobs for our families, friends, and neighbors, vital revenues for the state and local economy, and even a big boost for local tourism.

But along with all the benefits, all that production also means a special set of challenges to address. When filming comes to your neighborhood, how will the experience affect you? At FilmL.A., Inc. a key part of our mission is to make sure everything goes as smoothly as possible. 

FilmL.A. Protects Your Community’s Interests

FilmL.A. seeks an environment where filming is conducted professionally and courteously. While most on-location shoots are completed with minimal inconvenience to nearby residents and business owners, there are exceptions. That's why FilmL.A.'s mission includes balancing the requests of production companies with the concerns of the communities where they film.

How Does FilmL.A. Serve Your Community?

If you live, work, or attend school in one of the areas we serve, chances are good that you have benefited from a service FilmL.A. provides. Our services to the community include:

• Maintaining a 24-hour hotline to respond to neighborhood concerns at all times.
   
• Distributing uniform, reliable, advance notification of filming, and making regular improvements to this program.
   
• Working closely with public officials and community representatives, and attending neighborhood meetings to learn more about community needs.
   
• Distributing the Filmmakers’ Code of Professional Responsibility with every permit we coordinate, reminding production companies of their obligations toward you and your neighborhood.
   
• Taking extra steps to ease the impact of exceptional filming activities (gunfire, explosions, etc.)
   
• Requiring periodic neighborhood surveys to find and address community concerns.
   
• Developing a database that helps us tailor permits to the surrounding community.
   
• Building a team of FilmL.A. monitors to provide information and problem solving out in the community during complex film shoots.
   
• Creating, updating, and publishing special Neighborhood Conditions.

What Was it Like Before FilmL.A.?

It is easy to forget what things were like prior to 1995, when FilmL.A. was founded. Absent a centralized, mission-driven area film office, filming went on with little systematic attention to the surrounding community.  Complaint record-keeping was minimal.  Neighbors who felt inconvenienced could call the local authorities only during business hours.  Advance notification of filming was inconsistent or nonexistent.  Neighborhoods burned out to filming, and were randomly closed to filmmakers for indefinite periods, forcing valuable production jobs elsewhere.

What If I Have a Comment About Filming?

If you live, do business or attend school in an area we serve and and have a production-related question or comment, we want to hear from you.

For ongoing filming issues (if filming is already in progress) please call us right away at 213.977.8600 for immediate assistance.

If a production has recently wrapped in your community and your have thoughts you’d like to share, please fill our a wrap report online through our Filming Comments Form.