L.A. Film Board OKs Smaller Panel, Reforms

Los Angeles elected officials who sit on the board of the county’s film permitting office voted themselves out of jobs Monday as part of a package of reforms designed to clean up the troubled agency.

In their place, the 21 elected officials and 28 others on the board of the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. recommended a new board of directors drawn from the movie industry and labor and business groups, along with at-large members from neighborhoods where residents have complained about the disruptions caused by filming.

The EIDC was created in 1995 to streamline permitting and promote film production in Los Angeles County. But officials have been revamping the agency after allegations that the EIDC’s former president, Cody Cluff, embezzled $150,000 under the nose of City Council members and county supervisors even as the agency lavished political contributions on them.

“I wish we never had to go through this experience,” said Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who chaired the subcommittee that drafted the reforms. “But I do believe it’s a new day for the EIDC on several levels.”

The board also voted to prohibit the EIDC from making political contributions, established financial controls and ethical guidelines, and instituted a practice of independent audits. The board also created a new citizens’ advisory group that will hold hearings around L.A. to address community concerns.

The EIDC has been embroiled in controversy since last year, when the district attorney’s office launched an investigation that turned up evidence of alleged embezzlement by Cluff. Cluff was indicted Aug. 20 on suspicion of spending $150,000 of public money for visits to strip clubs, and on country club memberships, yoga classes and other personal expenses.

Although all 15 City Council members and all five county supervisors sat on the board, along with Mayor James K. Hahn, many conceded in the wake of the scandal that they had never attended meetings or voted on spending. Some said they did not even know they were on the board.

Now, instead of 49 members, the board will have 32, which, Greuel said, will make it a more “transparent organization.”

The new board members include 14 representatives from the film industry: Jim Brubaker of Universal Studios; Pete Corral of Columbia Pictures; Chris Essel of Paramount Pictures; Hudson Hickman of MGM Television; Jerry Ketcham of the Walt Disney Studios; Mark Indig, an independent production executive; Don McLellan of the Motion Picture Assn. of America; Will Paice of Panavision; Jean Prewitt of the American Film Marketing Assn; Lisa Rawlins of Warner Bros. Entertainment; Gary Rose of Go Film; Jim Sharp of Twentieth Century Fox Television; Randy Winograd of HSI Productions; and Steve Caplan of the Assn. of Independent Commercial Partners.

It also includes eight members from film labor groups: John P. Connolly of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists; G. Bryan Unger of the Directors Guild of America; Joe Aredas of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees; Miguel Contreras of the L.A. County Federation of Labor; Pamm Fair of the Screen Actors Guild; Earl Brendlinger of the Studio Utility Employees, Local 724; Steve Dayan of the Studio Transportation Drivers; and Paul Nawrocki of the Writers Guild of America. The representatives from neighborhood groups are Ken Balder of Altadena, Ted Wolfberg of Pacific Palisades, Joyce Foster of Westwood, Les Hardie from the Santa Monica Mountains, and a representative, yet to be named, from Hancock Park.

The business and civic leaders are Doug Wance, president of the Downtown Neighborhood Council; Roberto Barragan, president of the Valley Economic Development Corp; Alan Budnick of Ladera Heights; Jeff Shell, CEO of Gemstar TV Guide; and Pauline East of the Antelope Valley Film Office.