Councilmember’s Push to Improve L.A. Filming Conditions Passes Latest Hurdle: “We Can’t Lose Any More Time”

Why It Matters

Accelerating permitting and cutting costs could restore Los Angeles’ competitive edge in a tightening global production market, directly affecting thousands of local industry workers.

Key Takeaways

• All nine filming proposals cleared committee vote
• Free micro‑shoot permits aim to boost small productions
• Parking and property fees reduced to $1
• Independent audit targets permitting inefficiencies
• MPAA questions audit and micro‑shoot oversight

Pulse Analysis

Los Angeles has long been a magnet for film and television, but recent tax‑credit competition and pandemic‑induced slowdowns have eroded its market share. City officials, led by Councilmember Adrin Nazarian, are now confronting the bottlenecks that deter producers: cumbersome permits, high fees, and fragmented jurisdictional rules. By streamlining the certification process for soundstages and coordinating permits with neighboring counties, the city hopes to lower administrative friction and make LA a more attractive filming hub.

The nine‑point package approved by the Economic Development and Jobs Committee tackles cost and compliance head‑on. A free permit for micro‑shoots—productions with ten or fewer crew members—opens revenue streams for indie creators and reduces barriers for brand content. Cutting parking and property fees to a symbolic $1, coupled with an independent audit of the permitting system, signals a data‑driven effort to eliminate waste. Additionally, removing “special conditions” in neighborhoods such as the Arts District aims to prevent ad‑hoc restrictions that have historically slowed shoots.

While the proposals enjoy grassroots support from the “Stay in L.A.” movement, industry stakeholders like the Motion Picture Association have voiced reservations about the audit’s scope and oversight of micro‑shoots, fearing abuse by a few bad actors. These concerns will shape the upcoming full‑council debate, but the urgency expressed by Nazarian underscores a broader economic imperative: preserving jobs for thousands of crew members and keeping production dollars in the region. If enacted swiftly, the reforms could reposition Los Angeles as a resilient, production‑friendly city amid intensifying global competition.

Councilmember’s Push to Improve L.A. Filming Conditions Passes Latest Hurdle: “We Can’t Lose Any More Time”

By Katie Kilkenny · Labor & Media Reporter · February 17, 2026 · 6:20 pm

A line of entertainment industry workers wrapped around the block on Tuesday to enter L.A. City Hall, where a key committee meeting was taking place to appraise Councilmember Adrin Nazarian’s motions to improve filming conditions in the city.

Those who managed to gain entrance to the day’s Economic Development and Jobs Committee hearing saw all councilmembers on the committee vote in favor of Nazarian’s nine filming‑specific proposals — albeit with a few amendments.

Nazarian received a green light on the majority of his proposals, including a quicker certification process for soundstages and a requirement that all departments report their compliance with Mayor Karen Bass’ executive order on filming. He also got approval for an independent audit of the city’s permitting processes, a free permit for “microshoots” (a small production involving 10 or fewer people) and an agreement with counties and neighboring cities to coordinate permit regulations.

Amendments were passed for his proposals to streamline police and fire department regulations, to cut back fees for parking and filming on city properties to $1, and to remove “special conditions” from certain city neighborhoods, like Hancock Park or the Arts District, for filming.

Nazarian said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter after the meeting that only one change would require real follow‑up discussions, on the neighborhood “special conditions” amendment. “I’d rather the conversation to continue and to make sure that everyone feels comfortable in moving forward with what it was that we had set out to do, which is encourage more filming in Los Angeles,” Nazarian said. “So while this was a great victory in getting all nine motions out, it seems like on one particular motion we’re going to need to do some more work to make sure that everyone is comfortable with moving forward as close as the original direction as intended.”

Supporters of the grassroots “Stay in L.A.” movement, which has organized since early 2025 in favor of production‑friendly policies, flooded the hearing. And as Nazarian’s motions passed, rank‑and‑file industry workers who had attended the meeting broke out into raucous applause.

But not everyone was elated. The Motion Picture Association raised some specific concerns about the motions in a feedback letter sent to councilmembers, which a coalition of entertainment unions also echoed. Notably, the trade association doesn’t believe FilmLA in particular needs an independent audit and is seeking some oversight mechanism for microshoots “to prevent a small number of bad actors from creating challenges for future productions.”

Because the motions advanced on Tuesday, they will now be able to be considered by the full council as soon as later this month. Until then, said Nazarian, “My goal is to have conversations with everyone who had concerns and to say, okay, what is it that we can [do]? It’s better to work with precision rather than to broad brush changes.”

He added, “What’s important here is that there needs to be a sense of urgency. We are already late in taking what’s been going in the industry very seriously and addressing them with the urgency that it deserved. So now that we are here, we can’t lose any more time.”

Public comments during the hearing underscored the challenges that local industry workers are facing. A production designer talked about no longer being able to live off of her industry work and struggling to pay for rent and food. One former studio employee who was laid off a few years ago amid the slowdown said, “If I’m not able to make rent, I’m going to have to work at other places to live.” A member of the electrical lighting union IATSE Local 728 said that he’d lost union peers to suicide.

Councilmember Traci Park, whose partner is a member of the Editors Guild and hasn’t worked in a while, told attendees that she understood their experience personally. “We feel the pinch every single day,” she said. “I feel your pain on this.” She said she had questions about the motion. That said, she added, “I just want you all to feel heard.”