The Los Angeles City Council is so over the Hollywood strikes. Its members have voted unanimously to expedite entertainment projects in L.A.
Council President Paul Krekorian and several of his colleagues introduced the motion last month, and it was approved on a 14-0 vote, with Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson absent.
The council told various departments to identify any resources or policy changes needed to expedite the local film and television production in town.
“The report is due back in 15 days and we intend to act on the recommendations we receive,” Krekorian said in a statement. “The time it takes to get permits approved can be the most significant determinant of producers’ decisions to shoot in Los Angeles or take their productions and their jobs elsewhere. We intend to keep those jobs here in Los Angeles.”
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The vote comes six weeks after SAG-AFTRA ended its 118-day strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and less than three months after The Writers Guild of America’s 146-day walkout against the studios. Just days after that, on September 27, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to direct the County Department of Economic Opportunity in consultation with FilmLA “to identify an economic development firm to study various strategies that could incentivize new and continued movie, commercial, and television production in the County.”
“Small businesses throughout the city depend on the patronage of entertainment workers — when they are out of work, those small businesses too need to lay off workers or cut hours and wages,” Krekorian’s office said. “So swift resumption of motion picture and television production is essential to the health of our economy.”
City News Service contributed to this report.
