On July 23rd, Secret Headquarters, Inc., a Culver City post-production facility that specializes in meeting the demands of Hollywood’s entertainment industry, hosted a panel of industry professionals to discuss the topic “ran-away production”.
Titled Keeping it Local: If You Worked Here You’d Be Home Now, the discussion was moderated by SHQ operations manager Dave Bogosian and featured our president, Paul Audley; California Film Commission director, Amy Lemisch; Los Angeles City Council deputy, Jim Horwitz; independent film producer, Eric M. Klein; and location manager, Richard McMillan.
Topics ranged from local government incentives to the nitty-gritty details of the state film incentive program administered by the California Film Commission to ways to publicize the importance of the industry and combat exploitative demands by private citizens unaffected by filming.
Audley used the opportunity to highlight the fact that most major studios do not budget their films for California, which until the existing incentive was passed in February, could not compete with other incentive-giving states.
“Last fall FilmL.A. was given a peek at a budget completed by a major studio shooting a $110 million picture. That studio could save $9 million by shooting it in New York. They could save $23 million by going to Connecticut,” Audley said.
The panelists, attendees and organizers all seemed to agree that the new state incentive was a good start to reversing the declines in local filming, and that more can be done at the local and state level so L.A.’s entertainment biz can once again thrive.
