Pricey Privilege : Film industry: City boosts fees for movie crews that want to use the area for location shoots. But it also risks driving business away.
So you’re a big-shot film exec, and you’ve got this neat love story starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Katharine Hepburn. You want to shoot it at a Malibu mansion on the sea with seven Jacuzzis--and you need to use the city street nearby for your trucks, camera equipment and makeup crew.
It’s going to cost you.
Last week, Malibu city officials, desperate for revenue, gambled that movie industry executives will be willing to hand over hundreds of extra dollars in fees for the privilege of filming in a city that prides itself on being one of the most spectacular beach burgs around.
The council’s vote means that film companies now need to pay Malibu a $400 application fee for a permit--almost twice what the county charged before the brash new city decided to take over the filming process. The new law also means that Malibu gets $400 every day that film crews use city property--including streets.
Filming hours also have been whittled down to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (the previous hours were 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.). So if a shot is needed of a lovesick Schwarzenegger howling at the moon, the city will be owed another $300 for processing an extended-hours request. And approval will be contingent on neighbors’ agreeing to the request--which may mean sneaking them some dough, too.
If the hassle makes filmmakers want to bag it, they’ll have to hand over $200 in cancellation fees.
No wonder Diana Klein of Malibu Locations Etc. Inc., a company that matches films to local homes, is worried that Malibu’s new fees will hurt business. “A lot of scouts tell me that they can get the same house in South Carolina” a lot easier and a lot cheaper, she said.
Klein and other representatives of the film industry told the council last week that they thought it rather rude that a city that is home to some of the industry’s biggest executives and stars isn’t more welcoming to its crews.
But mostly, the film people complained that Malibu is risking losing film business and all the benefits that come along with it, including increased employment for locals, and use of local restaurants and hotels.
“Malibu and 91 other cities are all creating a mass of restrictions which are forcing films to go elsewhere,” said Cody Cluff, director of the Los Angeles County Film Office.
Malibu officials retort that the county is simply concerned with trying to keep a $5-billion-a-year industry in the area. “The charter of the film office is to help the industry. We’re here to help our citizens,” said Councilman Walt Keller.
Officials also claim that a city study found that Malibu’s new fees are comparable with what other cities charge. According to the study, El Segundo charges $500 a day for shoots on city property, Santa Monica charges $400 and Beverly Hills charges $759.
These cities, officials proudly point out, aren’t even Malibu. “We should get away with it. We have an exceptional area,” Councilwoman Missy Zeitsoff insisted.
Zeitsoff noted that the city is attempting to rid the $6-million budget of a $350,000 deficit. The film fees are a strategy--along with plans to install parking meters and perhaps sell a city logo for T-shirts--to do that.
“There’s no backing down,” Zeitsoff said. “A few of us are greedy and lean, and we want to explore pushing this to the limit.” City Manager Raymond Taylor estimates that the movie fees will earn Malibu $72,000 a year.
Movie shoots have had practically no limit in Malibu, which has been the background for projects ranging from Jeep commercials to the television series “Baywatch.” Over a four-month period earlier this year, the county issued 44 permits for shoots in Malibu, Cluff said. About 19 of those shoots were for commercials, and six were for major productions, including director and writer Ron Shelton’s $15-million “White Men Can’t Jump.”
A favorite spot for shoots is exclusive Paradise Cove, where the TV show “Jake and the Fatman” is shot. J.C. Penney also did ads for men’s clothing there.
Another haunt is plumber Ron Jenny’s home, a high-tech structure with skylights and windows on Point Dume. Jenny and his children spent five nights in a hotel while crews blew up their windows for the movie “Terminator 2.”
Jenny says that he earns a lot of money renting out his home--the daily rate in Malibu ranges from $500 to $5,000--and that all the activity is good for the local economy. But some of his neighbors have complained to the city about the noise, traffic and occasional explosions such shoots bring to their otherwise exclusive bluffs.
The fact that they can gawk at Schwarzenegger and other movie stars doesn’t begin to make up for the hassles, they say. After all, Malibu residents can run into the stars shopping for carrots at Hughes market. No big deal.
Patrick Dobbins, an engineer who has studied the issue for the city, said many residents complain about filming. Just the other day, he said, he was forced to send sheriff’s deputies to bust an illegal shoot that had sent a lady into a fit. She had returned home to find a motorcycle in front of her house with what appeared to be a dead driver next to it--and called City Hall.
