L. A. to Pay $45,000 to Film Company Over Set Shutdown

As Los Angeles officials explain it, the city must pay a $45,000 settlement to a film company over the shutdown of a movie-set castle in Chatsworth because of a classic case of “the left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing.”

In April, the city’s Motion Picture and Television Division gave Western Renaissance Pictures verbal permission to build a 13th-Century-style English castle on the site of the now-dry Chatsworth Reservoir, according to Charles Weisenberg, the division’s director.

But the Building and Safety Department, acting on a complaint from City Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the area, ordered construction stopped three days after it began because the film company had no written permit, said Bill King, chief building inspector in the San Fernando Valley.

The film company had to tear down the poles it had sunk in the reservoir bed and move the set for the film, “Army of Darkness,” to a remote ranch in Acton. The company subsequently filed an $85,000 claim against the city, complaining about needless losses, electioneering politicians and a confusing bureaucracy.

On Tuesday, the City Council in essence agreed that the company’s claim had at least some merit and voted 13 to 0 during a closed session to offer the company $45,000 to settle the matter. The company accepted.

“The left hand didn’t know what the right hand was doing,” said Ali Sar, a spokesman for Bernson, who said his boss did not oppose the settlement because of the confusion between city departments.

“It was awkward, to say the least,” Weisenberg said. He added that he attempted to inform building and safety officials “two, maybe three, times” that his department had granted the company a permit to film at the site.

But King said David Keim, the building inspector who ordered the construction stopped, was unaware that the film company had even a verbal permit.

Weisenberg said his department routinely grants oral permits, holding issuance of written permits until filming actually begins because of the uncertain nature of many film production schedules.

“We’ve followed the same procedures for at least a dozen years. This is the first time something like this has happened,” he said.

Christopher M. Westhoff, a deputy city attorney for the Public Works Department under whose jurisdiction Weisenberg’s division falls, said that in his opinion, oral permission was as legal as a written permit.

“I could find nothing wrong with our procedures,” he said.

In addition, Westhoff said, the property’s owner, the city’s Department of Water and Power, had given its permission for the filming.

Nevertheless, Weisenberg said that if “this happened tomorrow, I’d issue the written permit. It clearly was an inconvenience to the film company. Maybe we need to review our procedures.”

Sar said that even if the company had a lawful permit, it would not have been able to build the castle set at the reservoir because the site is designated as a wildlife preserve in the city’s General Plan.

“They were building the castle in an area where all the deer congregate at night,” Sar said.

He denied that Bernson ordered the construction stopped because the councilman was hoping to win votes from area residents in an election held a few days after his request, an accusation made by the film company’s production manager, Eric Gruendemann.

Gruendemann was unavailable for comment Wednesday, but a spokeswoman for the company who would not give her name said Western Renaissance was pleased with the settlement.

Deputy City Atty. Marjorie H. Currier, who negotiated the matter for the city, refused comment, citing attorney-client privilege.