Altadena Filming Committee met with Local Film Production Professionals

The Altadena Filming Committee has recently released meeting notes from a session they held with a group of local film production professionals. The meeting notes are available on the Altadena Town Council web site.

The meeting was held it this past December. It is one in a series of consultative meetings the Committee is holding to get a better understanding of how the County manages the film permitting process as well as capture the questions and concerns that Altadeneans have about filming in the community.

The Committee posed the following questions to our local production pros:

• In your view, what makes Altadena an attractive location for film shoots? In a related
  question: why is Altadena considered “film-friendly?”
  
• What, if anything, might you suggest that would make Altadena a more popular filming location?
• What, if anything, might you suggest to production companies to that might encourage neighbors to welcome a film shoot?
• What, if anything, might you suggest, that would encourage film companies to patronize local businesses?
• How might the film industry avoid overuse of some locations?
• What, if anything, might you suggest to a community member who hosts film shoots?
• If there happens to be a legitimate problem like a violation of a permit condition, what actions would you suggest for a concerned community member?
• What are the most common problems caused by uncooperative neighbors? What remedies have you used in these cases?

The responses of our local film professionas, as captured in the minutes, were quite candid.

They explained why Altadena is a great place to work. They discussed a strong desire to make filming a positive experience. There was a genuine desire to be responsive to neighbor concerns in order to leave a welcoming neighborhood for the next shoot. They discussed the benefits and drawbacks for distributing payments as a means of obtaining neighborhood support. They expressed frustration at the negative impressions created by a crew that violates permit conditions like parking on area streets instead of at a base camp. The expressed concerns about the negative effects of overuse. They expressed frustration with the services provided by on-site law officers and pointed out how LA County enforcement compared unfavorably with LA City enforcement. They also offered constructive suggestions for addressing the concerns felt by some Altadeneans .

On balance the views expressed by our local film pros were balanced and expressed a strong desire for creating a positive and fair filming environment in our community. Click here to see the full meeting notes.