Filming Advisory Committee Redux: mystery solved

Since I started dabbling in the topic of how our local government promotes and regulates on-location filming, friends and acquaintances made many well-intentioned suggestions about things that need looking into. Don't tell anyone, but I mostly don't bother.

However, one friend, who works for the government, suggested I ask the County for FilmLA's contract. "You never know what you'll find." I agreed this was a fabulous idea, but my honest reaction was: 'Are you kidding? This is a job for Mr. Tulkinghorn. I might try to learn to play a 3-part Invention without taking a piano lesson. I've got better things to do like taking on the oxalis.'

I hope you won't mind a bit of advice: never, ever underestimate the internet. Even the most intractable problem is worth a 5-minute google. Luck was on my side. One query, one page and there it was. FilmLA's contract with Los Angeles County in pdf black-and-white.

I hadn't finished the cover letter when I stumbled across the answer to a mystery: The disappearance of the Los Angeles County Film Advisory Committee famously described in LACO Ordinance 3.70.

In the very unlikely event that you follow this blog, you may remember a posting about the Filming Advisory Committee. This is the group charged with reviewing and advising the organization that operates the County's Film Permitting process — a seemingly useful function. However, there was nary a clue from Google. They were mysterious as the Trilateral Commission.

Thanks to Fortuna and the FilmLA Contract, the mystery is solved. On page 5 of the LACO CEO's cover letter, I found this ditty: "The County Code will be amended to remove references to the County filming permit coordination office and filming advisory committee, which no longer exist." Mystery solved. The committee doesn't exist. There's order in the world.

Maybe the LA Country Municode site is a bit like those cluttered shelves in our garage. Something's are just really hard to get around to.