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County film production begins slow return to normalcy

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Since the inception of the Southland film industry, the Antelope Valley has been a popular destination for location shoots. The coronavirus pandemic has placed a significant halt to production, but there’s good news. FilmLA this week said film production is resuming throughout the county, albeit slowly, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

FilmLA resumed remote office operations on June 15 and began accepting permit applications for filming a few days later.

“Since reopening, we’ve seen growing interest from filmmakers and the community about how filming can safely and responsibly resume,” FilmLA President Paul Audley said. “New health orders that apply to permit seekers … need to be taken seriously. That will make our work of reintroducing filming to local communities much easier.”

In the past two weeks, FilmLA said it has received about 14 film permit applications per day, while fielding hundreds of calls from filmmakers interested in resuming work. That’s about 20 percent of the daily application intake FilmLA would expect under normal conditions.

Based on that activity volume, FilmLA representatives characterized filming’s return as cautious and gradual, with smaller still-photo shoots and commercials representing about 56 percent of incoming applications.

The next largest group of applicants comes from television, with reality shoots leading the way. The largest television project to apply to shoot on location is Freeform’s “Love in the Time of Corona.”

FilmLA representatives also noted that three daytime soap operas have resumed filming on stages in Los Angeles, “The Bold and the Beautiful,” “The Young and the Restless” and “General Hospital.”

However, because those projects are shot on certified sound stages, FilmLA does not coordinate permits for them.

The nonprofit reported that 13 of the 16 city and county jurisdictions it serves have reopened to filming, while one of the six school districts served by FilmLA has also reopened to host filming and base camp parking on campus.

FilmLA’s COVID-19 Resource Center, which can be accessed at www.filmla.com/covid-19, lists the areas served by FilmLA and their current filming availability.

The website also includes links to resources from film industry organizations and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, including the latest safety guidelines that apply to filming on location.

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