FilmLA Says Film Permit Applications “Declined Significantly” In December
On-location filming in Los Angeles has hit record lows in the last weeks of December as the coronavirus pandemic surges across Southern California. FilmLA, the city and county film permit office, said Wednesday that its preliminary data reveals that applications for filming permits “declined significantly in the month of December, and last week, to lows we have not seen since the weeks after the restart of production last summer.”
It will be the second consecutive month of declining permit requests since June, when filming resumed under strict safety protocols.
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With cases of Covid-19 spiking across the city, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health last week urged film and TV productions to “strongly consider pausing work for a few weeks during this catastrophic surge in Covid cases.”
Last night, SAG-AFTRA leaders told their members that “most entertainment productions will remain on hiatus until the second or third week of January, if not later.”
In a preview of December’s permit activity, FilmLA said today that “The local film industry is highly invested in efforts to control Covid-19, as demonstrated by the strict safety protocols and testing that all productions are subject to. Receptive to the guidance of County public health experts, the industry also responsibly began dialing back activity considerably, beginning earlier in December.”
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