City Hopes to Draw More Movie Crews

Hoping to lure more Hollywood productions to their seaside community, Oxnard City Council members have authorized the Greater Oxnard Economic Development Corp. to issue film permits for television and motion picture crews.

The move transfers responsibility for issuing such permits from city planners to the city-funded Economic Development Corp., which is launching a campaign to promote Oxnard as a prime coastal film location.

Steve Kinney, the development corporation’s president, said the organization aims to boost the number of shows that film in Oxnard and also persuade some studios to set up permanent production facilities in the city.

“We’re confident we can take on the responsibility and really emphasize the role of filming in the economic growth of the community,” Kinney said.

Under the new arrangement, the city will continue to charge a $25 permit fee. Location fees will still be $300 a day for the first day and $200 per additional day.

The Economic Development Corp. will keep 60% of fees collected from film companies after the first $10,000. The city’s budget projects $10,000 from filming fees this year.

Some residents who spoke at Tuesday’s City Council meeting objected to the financial arrangement, saying that the Economic Development Corp. is already subsidized by the city and is not entitled to the film revenues.

Council members said they would consider reducing the subsidy to the Economic Development Corp.--about $312,000 this year--by an amount equal to the fees the organization collects from filming.

Other residents said they are wary of increased traffic, noise and bright lights that film crews from shows such as “Melrose Place” have already brought to Oxnard.

Ronnie Meisen, who lives at Oxnard Shores, said the “Melrose Place” crew has greatly disrupted her neighborhood with frequent shoots.

“This has not been the happy Hollywood experience you would imagine,” she said.

Council members urged Kinney to explore the possibility of drawing up a film ordinance that limits the times of day crews can shoot. Such an ordinance was recently passed in Thousand Oaks.