Follow the Rules, and We Will Help

LORA LAMARCA

Marketing and public relations director, Los Angeles Zoo

*

The Los Angeles Zoo has a long history of working closely with the Los Angeles film industry and the staff of the Entertainment Industry Development Corp.

Commercials, feature films and still photographs often feature the Los Angeles Zoo as a setting. Arrangements are handled through the Marketing and Public Relations Division, and personal attention is given to each inquiry. Location managers are given free admission to the zoo when they are scouting the location, and all of the details for commercial filming are arranged in concert with the zoo’s film coordinator. Our animal curators also are very responsive to telephone inquiries for animal information that come from game shows, television situation comedies and magazine programs.

It is unfortunate that MacIntyre feels that the zoo was being “petty” for denying “gratis entry” when he just appeared at the security office unannounced. People in the media and film industry understand that arrangements should be made with a facility’s media relations office for free access. The zoo’s Marketing and Public Relations Division never received a call from MacIntyre prior to his arrival.

Will we give free admission to anyone who comes to the zoo without making prior arrangements or without some type of credentials because they are working on a scene in a screenplay? No. It is unrealistic to expect the L.A. Zoo to grant free access to everyone who comes and identifies himself or herself as a screenwriter.

Educating the public--whether through the media or schools--is one of the Los Angeles Zoo’s missions.