Spike Jonze and Lance Bangs directed portrait of author of "Where the Wild Things Are"
Updated: Garcetti Talks About Plans for Film Czar
After years of declining movie production in Los Angeles County, the city may finally get an official devoted to keeping Hollywood here, and happy.
Slideshow
It’s perhaps the most anticipated head-to-head competition in Oscar history.
Kathryn Bigelow’s low-budget indie war film, “The Hurt Locker,” and James Cameron’s 3D mega-blockbuster “Avatar,” both nominated for nine Oscars Tuesday, are going directly against one another for Director and Best Picture, among other categories.
Oh, and of course, Bigelow and Cameron used to be married.
Which film is going to win the big Best Picture prize on March 7?
TheWrap breaks down the competition.
Updated Friday at 5:50 pm:
After years of declining movie production in Los Angeles County, the city may finally get an official devoted to keeping Hollywood here, and happy.
How much is the decline in production? A whole lot.
This year, only three big-budget movies have applied for permits to shoot in Los Angeles, according to Film LA, which issues them.
That compares to 21 major feature films – meaning those with budgets higher than $80 million – that shot on the streets of the city in 2008.
And that figure is down from the peak of 71 films shot with permits in L.A. in 1996.
To many, that feels like red-zone territory.
At a city council meeting on Wednesday, council president Eric Garcetti announced that he would propose the appointment of a “film czar” to focus on film industry efforts and relations with the studios.
In an interview with TheWrap, Garcetti said the role was long overdue. "California doesn't have a problem with runaway production. We have a problem with ran-a-way production," he said.
"We need to think creatively about how to help with the logistics of filming, the tax structure that keeps people away and what advantages we have here in Los Angeles and how we can make them more convienent and less expensive for our key trademark industry."
Garcetti spokeswomen Julie Wong said Garcetti is not considering any candidates for the new position yet, and he hasn’t decided whether the “czar” will come from the entertainment industry or city government.
The position is envisioned to be based in the office of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Mayoral spokesman Jonathan Powell said Villaraigosa had only just learned of the proposal, but added, "The mayor feels strongly that the entertainment industry is the lifeblood of our economy. He’s always open to ideas to keep the industry in LA, and to allow it to grow as much as possible, because it puts people back to work and grows the economy in general."
Garcetti proposed creating the position after reviewing a report on runaway production conducted by the Council’s Chief Legislative Analyst after “Ugly Betty” moved its production to New York last year.
The report cited a study by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation that determined a one-hour scripted program like “Betty” employs 180 people, supports 540 indirect jobs and generates about $80,000 in state sales tax revenue.
That same report also led to the passage of a $500 million “Ugly Betty tax credit” in the state budget just last week, the first major tax incentive program for the industry ever adopted by the state.
There’s good reason for the shift toward government intervention. Film production is the third-largest source of commerce for Los Angeles County, after international trade and tourism.
And production is down radically in California in general and Los Angeles particularly because of all the filming incentives adopted by other countries and states.
Paul Audley, the head of Film L.A., a non-profit that fills this function currently along with issuing film permits for local production, said a “film czar” would be a welcome move.
“Each of the LA County districts have issues with production leaving, but given that every council member has issues, things do slip through the cracks,” said Audley.
Comments
Doom2 Says
Don't be a slave to the unions. Keep using that word "czar", and see where it gets you.games
Miguel Says
I'm thrilled that Hollywood is taking it in the shorts. I've been turned from a movie lover, hoped for movie maker into a Hollywood refusnick. I personally hate the vile/cowardly, propagandistic slop that the whiney/vicious back-biting wimps of Holly-weaklings make in their wholesale ignorance thinking we like their garbage.
We seek relief from Hollywood's incessant hate-preaching, by staying away. Their elitist, brain-dead self-aggrandizement, their political idiocy is beyond the pale. I'd love to hear about Sean Penn getting the shit kicked out of him in a real bar, by real Americans who are willing to help him see some sense of the people. His vicious incivility needs to come back home to roost.
We are in the process of learning that we don't need to see ANY of their hate-filled, hate-speech-ridden moral thuggist movies anymore. We are finding that washing the car, spending time with family/friends and doing projects are far better, more peaceful, uplifting ways to spend our time on earth. Plus, we are finding joy in re-developing the "art of conversation" in our circles, which is helped by our no longer wasting time at Hollywood movies.
Try Indian movies. They are far more uplifting and respectful of tradition and humanity.
Anonymous Says
Hey Wrap people, if you are truly a global entertainment site, why don't you map the trends about where the movies are being made rather than solely focusing on what is happening in Hollywood as if that is all that mattered?
Virtuakd Says
First of all, let me welcome all the Right Wingers to the conversation. It really is refreshing to hear such unabashed negativity from someone other than Nikki Finke.
Something must have made y'all click on the headline so if its to come to a vibrant site to let rip your colorful, if not narrow-minded thinking than that's just great.
Because for those of us who are actually in this industry and who make their living in So Cal, watching our economic and cultural heritage be squandered is too much to bare. Personally, I think this is too little to late.
But heck, if these "conservatives" get their way there won't be anymore movies, TV shows and all we'll have is Rush on AM Radio. Now that's Entertainment!!!
BTW - How are you enjoying the party over at Breitbart's Big Hollywood?
-- An Interested Party ---
Zee Says
Well, I had really been hoping that either "The Big One" would hit and drown California or that Mexico would complete their annexation. Either would be cause for celebration. But Hollywood going down in flames is almost just as savory.
Outside of Washington DC, I know of no more loathsome a group of traitors than those who live in Hollywood.
May you all eat your nightmares to.the.bone. You deserve nothing less.
I'm Shocked ! Says
I don't know about how the city being in bed with the unions is affecting the film industry, but it is sure changing things at LAX.
Did you know that the city now requires any new concessionaire at LAX to sign a deal with a union? You are not even allowed to submit a bid unless you first sign a deal with a union. It is an old fashion shakedown.
They have given it an Orwellian name "Labor Peace"; it should be called "Labor's Piece"
Anonymous Says
how ironic, the liberal fools that have voted for the many liberal anti capitalist that are now in office both state and nation wide are now seeing that, maybe liberalism doesn't work. I left Ca. because it's no longer the great place it was, and that is a direct result of failed leadership. You reap what you sew. On some level I'm glad "Hollywood" is taking a dump. Where it's sad for the workers, the uncreative creative greedy idiots running the joint get exactly what they deserve.
A Czar? you fools still don't get. You could at least film Slumdog 2 in L.A. without building any sets.
Your BTL friend in the DGA Says
People, unions (and guilds) are NOT the problem in Los Angeles or California. Their reach, jurisidiction and contracts cover most of the US and Canada. Sometimes there's a benefit, albeit small, shooting in a backwater like Louisiana or New Mexico where SAG extras aren't required and/or IATSE or Teamster rates are lower than other states. Of course, those "benefits" if any are often offset by the dearth of local hires making travel and living costs higher than other major metro centers.
Ask any LA based IA, SAG or DGA worker and they'll tell you they just want to work at home! Sure the money on the road is good but it's tearing their lives apart.
We're kidding ourselves if we're not watching "Roger and Me" but the movie version. Jobs are moving out of the industrial centers, workers are being replaced, LESS movies and TV shows are being produced.
The city of LA should create an incentive, transferable tax credit, etc and business WILL thrive at home, local merchants will see there revenues increase, the tax base will rise and the business will be rosy.
The incentives WORK, ask Nick Paleologos, the commish in MA.
Typically, ANY incentive legislation gets shot down because "we don't want to make Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg rich..." That being the case, capping OR not allowing Above the Line costs (or ONLY guild scale wage amounts) would likely sweeten the political machine.
Good luck, huh?
Anonymous Says
Get rid of censorship and the MPAA and let directors have a free mind.
Laughing and Laughing! Says
Let it all happen. I want the entire Industry to go into the toilet. Use the Mexicansand Unions to wipe with after you are done. Revolution gonna come! The rest of us out here WILL eventually Come at you and we will put the Constitution back in place. The weaklings will all die-off and the rest of us who are willing to fight for it will see the re-instatement of the Constituion with new protections to never let this happen to the Country again. BE STRONG...It is coming!
This will make a hell of a script... Maybe they can shoot it in Toronto
Anonymous Says
Consider making it affordable and easy to make movies in LA again to bring back movie makers. Production companies and studios will go where they can make economical movies. Personally, the hollywood elites have cut their own throats and their audiences by vocalizing their radical political beliefs, thus I really don't care what happens to the movie industry............sad, because it used to be a magical place!
Anonymous Says
Villaraigosa has been too busy with his job of turning L.A. into Mexico to be bothered with English speaking filmmakers! After 4 years, he finally realizes he needs MORE money for the millions of illegal aliens in L.A.! I really hope the studios don't come back...L.A. deserves to go belly up!!!!
Villariagosa...film czar...now THAT'S entertainment, LOL!
Curmudgeon10 Says
I think the thing is, there isjust not that much of a market for Spanglesh language movies.
itisme Says
said one veteran entertainment executive. “People want tax breaks, and an easy permit process. The big problem here is that you have to hire unions, so anything done in L.A. is more expensive.”
Unions aren't the problem, arrogant and overpaid media executives are.
WhitePine Says
Just charge a penny a gallon for water.
Then, there will be plenty of extra. Most people don't even know how much they pay for a gallon of water -and don't much care, either. (Water costs one fifth of 1 cent in many California districts -that's a white five gallon bucket of water for one penny.) - No wonder no one cares. Fill a bath tub for a nickel.
Water is cheap. The average household pays 21.00 a month for water.
It's laughable.
Wake up Las Vegas and Metro USA water districts. You pay 2-3 dollars a gallon for gasoline and you can't live without that either.
Raise the price of water to just 1 penny per gallon and you'll have extra capacity and no need to build pipelines:
Give it away, drain the aquifers, and no one gives a damn.
I'm so sick of the stupid "We're running out of water " scarcity refrain.
I think the unions just like digging trenches and laying pipe.
When the big drought comes cities will ration water and private enterprise will sell it by the gallon and by the truckload. And they will make money because people are willing to pay good money for good water.
Government sucks; free enterprise rocks.
WP
Spartacus Says
"The big problem here is that you have to hire unions, so anything done in L.A. is more expensive.”
Oh PLEASE. What a lunatard. BTW, the Teamsters are nationwide, and IATSE operates in Canada, Mexico, and all 50 states. Does he figure on moving production to Chile??
Below-the-line union salaries are <5% of the cost of any feature made in this town. By contrast, "Titanic" was made in MEXICO, and paying slave labor wages to its slave labor local construction crews, and STILL got cancelled by the studios "because it cost too much" before it was finally completed. So much for unions busting budgets.
Whatever gashole who anonymously spouted that pantload quote should have been quoted by name, if only to guarantee him a little face-to-face love from all the people working every year who make his corporate stupidity possible.
And for cripes sake, if you're going to point out that only 3 permits have been issued, do you supposed "industry insiders" think it might be germane to the discussion to point out that UNTIL SAG SIGNS A FRIGGIN' CONTRACT, NO ONE IN THIS TOWN CAN GET COMPLETION BOND INSURANCE TO START A NEW MOVIE unless they're willing to risk losing every penny of their own if there's an actual actor's strike (which is a legally and contractually recognized "force majeure")?!?
File that under DUH!
When SAG - including the 90% of its members who spend most of their days jerking out wholelottacrapacinnos at Starbucks - finally gets their act together, literally, there are supposedly some ridiculously huge number of projects green-lighted to go into production PDQ.
A film czar ain't gonna solve that problem.
Despite that, the idea is long overdue, if only to have someone designated to tap dance on the Taxinator's head, and remind him that this is the last major industry that hasn't left California and the US forever, and that he might want to be able to get a job in this town once he's burned all his political bridges.
Other states and countries GIVE tax breaks, because they know they'll get it all back in payroll and sales taxes when those hired (there) live, buy, and spend (THERE). But neither the idiots in L.A., nor the geniuses in Sacramento have figured this out yet. It's a no-brainer.
And the producers have found out over and over, when they flee elsewhere, it only takes about 2 years for the "dumb yokels" in Pigknuckle to get hip to what people get paaid in Hollywood, and pretty soon, they start asking for the same pay rates; and then the producers start asking "Why did we leave Hollywood?"
Lastly, to you California haters out there commenting who have no clue about the industry:
Do you REALLY think there are no eeeeevil film unions in NEW YORK CITY???
Bwahahahaha!
ron Says
i'd say "...and let the propaganda begin..." once a government appointed czar is placed, but then i'd be a day late and a dollar short.
so instead i'll just say "...it'll finally be official..."
BlueMoon Says
Even fellow liberals in the industry can only take so much added costs before they bail. It's not just movies either. The ad agencies are having to do the same thing.
Providing artificially high standards of living for all workers can only last so long before the high costs destroy the industry. If you doubt that, look at Detroit!
Hope Hollywood fails! Says
It is about time this has happened to Hollywood. I hope the whole state tanks! It is just what they deserve for taxing people out of existance, over ran by illegal aliens, and being bullied by unions. The whole state needs an enema. It was only a matter of time. Thank God!
Anonymous Says
Get rid of the unions and bring costs down that are aligned with the current industry as a whole. The film business will not be the same again, quit trying to prop up a broken house, the system is reinventing itself and you either join the wave or get crushed by it!
jackolantyrn 356 Says
I guess it's the Hayes Era again. Get the twin beds out, dust off the BOOK How can we determine if the screen kiss was a hot kiss? Wow! it's what we need again. Wow!!! We'll get to be taken all the way back to the SILENT ERA.. Wonder how they'll reanimate Nazimova and Douglas Fairbanks and what about Mary Pickford. Gosh All Hecktor! I wonder how they'll do it all. They;re resurecting Judge Hayes........
David Powell Says
Costs and fees are too high. They need to get the cost of doing business down. cut taxes and fees. Otherwise people will keep going out of California or even to Canada or overseas to shoot their movies.
The time was that even B-Movie people could shoot in California. What is needed is some good old fashioned conservatism in California, realizing that they are killing the film business.
The movie business is a business after all, and if they remembered that once in a while California and the movie industry would both be better off than they are now.
Anonymous Says
Don't be a slave to the unions. Keep using that word "czar", and see where it gets you.
Anonymous Says
Who really cares?
Jake Says
Maybe if the people wouldn't be forced to run everything they do by non-contributing union leaders. they would continue filming in California. Maybe.
But that's not gonna happen, so enjoy your victories over the big bad rich people. It's working out great for you, huh?
I have an idea: have another strike in which the government allows unions to physically disrupt filming, and go unpunished. That should attract investment.
There's nothing like a little recession to put things into perspective for politicians who think wealth is falling from the sky, for them top distribute among the adoring subjects.