Century City : Night Filming Draws Protests

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky has asked the city Motion Picture Coordinating Office not to issue more permits for filming at a construction site on the Avenue of the Stars, after receiving complaints from residents who said they were disturbed last week by a film crew who spent the night making a commercial.

The commercial for Cadbury chocolate was filmed from about 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. July 15 at a Marriott hotel construction site.

Thomasena Singh of the Motion Picture Coordinating Office said she did not know there were residents near the construction site when she issued a filming permit to Jennie and Company Film Productions. The permit was routinely approved because the west side of the avenue, where filming took place, is zoned a commercial district, Singh said. Filming in commercial districts usually does not draw complaints, she said.

If a permit is requested for a residential area, the film company must notify all nearby residents and obtain a sufficient number of neighbors’ signatures before the motion picture office will grant a permit.

Because of the complaints, permits requested for Avenue of the Stars filming will be given more scrutiny in the future and residents will be notified, Singh said.