L.A. County supervisors to consider cutting Grand Park filming fees
Los Angeles County supervisors are scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to eliminate or reduce filming fees at their newly opened downtown Grand Park to entice Hollywood to use the site more.
Movie productions currently have to spend $20,000 per block of space they use at the park, which many say is excessive and a prime reason why only one movie has been shot at the site since it opened last year.
Supervisors Michael D. Antonovich and Don Knabe have proposed temporarily waiving the fee for six months to help “establish Grand Park as an icon” and to give county officials an idea of how much filming demand there is.
But the three other supervisors seem against the idea because they fear increased filming could cut off public access to the 12-acre site, which stretches from Bunker Hill to City Hall.
“I don’t think Grand Park wants to be an icon for the film industry,” said Gloria Molina.
Molina, Zev Yaroslavsky and Mark Ridley-Thomas favor reducing fees, possibly to about $5,000 a day.
Any change in filming fees requires three votes.
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