FilmL.A. the not-for-profit which coordinates film permits on behalf of the City and County of Los Angeles, also counts several area school districts among its clients. By partnering with FilmL.A., school district partners have the opportunity to generate additional revenue by allowing production companies to utilize school properties as locations for filming. FilmL.A.’s involvement helps schools earn funds to pursue facility upgrades and sustain both educational and extracurricular programs.
The Los Angeles Unified School District, a client since 2002, last renewed its partnership with FilmL.A. in 2010. Since the renewal, LAUSD has generated about $8 million in revenue from production shoots. Before FilmL.A. and LAUSD partnered in 2002, only 19 of LAUSD schools were used for on-location filming. That number has since increased to more than 300.
“We’ve been able to help bring more of that money into the school system and help those individual schools with needs that can’t be currently funded with public money,” said Paul Audley, FilmL.A. President.
Filmmakers are charged a standard fee for property use and could incur are additional fees for parking, custodians and overnight work. Filmmakers can find school properties available for filming through FilmL.A.’s online location database, LocoScout.com.
In addition to LAUSD, FilmL.A. serves five other area school districts and their schools, including Burbank Unified School District, Glendale Unified School District, La Canada Unified School District, Lawndale Elementary School District and Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District.