Gunfire, Blasts Prompt New Filming Rules

A week of explosives-laden filming on the streets of downtown Los Angeles has left some residents and office workers rattled, prompting officials to consider new regulations governing the way the entertainment industry operates on city streets.

Downtown has become a favorite location for filming everything from TV commercials and series to features and music videos. Officials estimate that downtown hosts hundreds of productions a year. But some central city denizens have had enough.

Paul Vandeventer was in his office on the 24th floor of the City National Bank Building when he heard a loud explosion and saw smoke and an enormous fireball coming from a parking lot at 5th and Olive streets March 24. Vandeventer and several colleagues thought downtown Los Angeles was being attacked -- until they saw a crew filming a pilot for a TV cop show.

“We could make out the film crew on the lot,” said Vandeventer, president and chief executive of Community Partners, an organization that helps start civic programs. “But that didn’t stop our nerves from being jangled and us from being rattled the rest of the afternoon.”

Two days later, artist Tom Guiton said, he was awakened at 11:50 p.m. when a large truck exploded within 500 feet of his loft at 4th and Molino streets. At first, he was startled -- until he realized production crews were filming an episode of the ABC drama “Alias.” The three days of filming included street and bridge closures as well as the sound of automatic gunfire.

“Sometimes you don’t know if it’s a film crew and not dangerous or if it is dangerous and not a film crew,” said Guiton, a painter who has lived in the Arts District since 1995 and has filed numerous complaints with police and the city. “There has been an increase in filming in the communities which leads to a massive increase in nuisance to the public, and when that continues the community has to suffer.”

In response to these complaints and others, Councilwoman Jan Perry is developing new guidelines for filming downtown.

“This is not a new problem,” Perry said. “There are more residents living downtown than before, and some film companies might not recognize and accept that.”

Last year, to examine the problem, Perry helped create a committee consisting of downtown residents, members of the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. and movie industry representatives. One of the ideas being examined would require film companies that plan to use explosives or gunshots downtown to survey the community before filming. Also being considered are better ways for the EIDC, a nonprofit organization that helps production companies navigate city requirements, to handle community complaints.

“It’s my job to see that the filming industry maintains a vigorous level of activity while maintaining a level of respect for the quality of life of people in the area,” Perry said. “It’s just an act of consideration. It’s not much to ask.”

There are, on average, 9,000 production days annually in downtown Los Angeles, according to the EIDC. A “production day” represents a full day of filming.

To film in the area, a production company must request a city-issued film permit from the EIDC, said Lisa Rawlins, head of the nonprofit’s board of directors. And to set off explosions, a company must receive a special-effects permit from the Fire Department, and the crew’s special-effects technician must have a certified license from the fire marshal.

While coordinating the permit, the EIDC or the film company is required to provide notification to residents who may be affected by filming, Rawlins said. In downtown areas where large buildings serve several tenants, the EIDC gives filming notices to building management companies. Those companies are responsible for informing tenants.

On March 24, the crew at 5th and Olive, across from Pershing Square, had the necessary permits to film a pilot episode of “Countdown,” a Touchstone Television drama that follows a police crisis team, studio officials said.

The remote-controlled low-grade explosives destroyed a precut van in the parking lot. A gas link controlled the fireball, Touchstone officials said.

EIDC representatives delivered the filming notifications of special effects two days earlier, said Kathleen Milnes, an EIDC spokeswoman. But several business owners said they had not received any information from their building management corporations.

“If I know there will be loud noises and effects on the traffic, I will notify my tenants with a letter,” said Teresa Kirkaldy, building manager for City National Bank Building. “But I was not notified so I could not notify my tenants.”

Vandeventer said the concerns of residents and workers need to be better addressed. “There is a presumption ... that the city ought to bow down to every demand because [the entertainment industry is] so economically important to the city,” he said. “And I object to that assumption.”

“It’s not a perfect system,” Milnes said in response. “But up until seven years ago they didn’t get any notice at all.... Still, we are constantly looking for ways to improve our service.”

Arts District residents have created a new way to benefit from filming inconveniences.

Since January, all commercial film companies working in the area are asked to donate $500 to the Los Angeles River Artists and Business Assn., a nonprofit that promotes the Art District’s identity and its economic vitality, said Jonathan Jerald, Arts District media coordinator for the association.

So far the group has collected about $8,000. But Jerald said the donations do not represent total compensation.

“The degree that the benefit can outweigh the inconveniences is what we have to figure out,” Jerald said. “No amount of contributions to an eventual arts center may be able to compensate residents for the amount of inconvenience 200 film shoots a year is going to cost them.”