Mayor Bass Advances Executive Directives to Bolster LA’s Entertainment Industry

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced progress in the implementation of her agenda to support LA’s signature entertainment industry, including making it easier to film on city-owned properties and reducing costs associated with local onsite productions. Last year, she issued Executive Directive 11, “Reel Change: Supporting Local Film and Television Production” to support local film and TV jobs by making it easier for studios and independent producers alike to shoot movies, television shows and commercials here in Los Angeles. 

Mayor Bass also recognized LA City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian’s partnership to support the entertainment industry and keep production jobs local following a suite of motions he recently introduced as part of his Keep Hollywood Home initiative. Councilmember Nazarian is the city council leader working to restore LA’s signature entertainment industry.

“The motions I’ve already introduced are just the beginning,” said Councilmember Adrin Nazarian. “We developed these proposals through a year of meeting with everyone from studio executives and producers to hundreds of rank-and-file production workers. They’re designed to save the jobs that thousands of L.A. families depend on.These changes won’t just benefit the big studios, they’ll help the small scale productions and the independent filmmakers who provide the innovation and creativity that make Los Angeles the creative capital of the world.”

The mayor and councilmember Nazarian have a shared goal of attracting and retaining production in LA, including through his efforts to remove special conditions that make it harder for productions to gain approval and to adopt a micro-shoot permit which helps clear existing hurdles for small productions and emerging creators. In collaboration with partners like FilmLA, Film Liaison Steve Kang and the mayor’s office, a tiered permitting fee structure is being developed for low-impact productions. The pilot is expected to launch by March 2026.

This comes after Mayor Bass instructed key improvements for making it easier and more cost-effective to film within the city, including:

• The Central Library will reopen filming for major productions this year.
• The Port of Los Angeles has cut the time it takes to review filming applications.
• City staff are preparing a proposal to return to lower fees for filming at the Griffith Observatory.
• The LA Department of Transportation has extended staff hours to ensure timely on-street signage posting requests and changes for local productions.
• FilmLA, the City’s film permitting partner, is developing a tiered permitting fee structure for low-impact productions, working in coordination with Film Liaison Steve Kang and the Mayor’s Office.
• The LA Department of Transportation has pre-approved certain closures in Downtown Los Angeles, allowing FilmLA to authorize curb lane and local street closures in accordance with established manual guidelines.
• LAPD has identified activity and locations where the assignment of personnel can either be waived or decreased since the Mayor’s directive.