Supervisors Reduce Fees for Film Crews
The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to reduce fees charged to film crews using sites on county land, in hopes that the reductions will bring Hollywood movie makers to the south more often.
The fee for a movie permit will be reduced from $500 to $400 per day, according to Lolly Powell, the county’s film liaison officer. Furthermore, she added, a new 50% discount in the amount charged for setup and breakdown of sets will bring “strike and prep” fees down to $200 per day. The new rates go into effect July 18.
“I’ve always believed that the movie industry is good to the local economy,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Gaddi H. Vasquez.
Vasquez said the supervisors had not received specific complaints about current fees, although last month some location scouts told The Times that they are higher in Orange County than in comparable areas surrounding Hollywood. The associate director of the California Film Commission said at the time that “there seems to be some reluctance (on the part of county officials) to go as far as they could.”
“I don’t know that to be a fact,” Vasquez said Wednesday. “What we do know is that we want the business in Orange County.”
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