Late last year, FilmLA introduced a major update to its MyFilmLA customer portal. For the first time, filmmakers gained the ability to apply for school filming licenses online.
The old way of doing things, requiring work in separate systems to obtain a license and valid permit, created numerous challenges. Now that the two processes are integrated, and all permissions coordinated in parallel within MyFilmLA, it saves time and reduces stress for all.
We caught up with the project team in charge of the MyFilmLA update to collect their thoughts on this milestone achievement. In particular, we sought to understand how a commitment to innovation is driving a focus on people, processes, and technology at FilmLA.
Joining us for the talk were Bruce Ekstein, Director of Information Technology, David Donnella, IT Analyst, and Tara Kramer, Product Manager for FilmLA. We are excited to share their perspectives.
Tell me a little bit about the team’s goals for this project.
Ekstein: At a high level, we have a concept of continual improvement. So we're trying to make FilmLA, internally, as efficient as possible. And you know, every time something is moved forward, there's an opportunity to move something else forward. For people who interact with FilmLA, we're trying to make the process more efficient for them, more informative and more transparent.
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In what specific way is the schools workflow more efficient now?
Kramer: When there's both a permit and a license agreement, before this integration you would have to submit two applications to two different people or departments within FilmLA. Two separate applications coming in, sometimes at different times, sometimes from two different people on the same project… It created a lot of double work for both our customers and our staff, as well as room for error and miscommunication.
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If efficiency was the primary goal, what other improvements came along with that?
Donnella: The system that schools licenses were being processed in was... It wasn't very stable. And, you know, I can speak for the IT team... We were always breathing sighs of relief when we would go a few months without something breaking in the existing school system. So, getting the process into a more stable system and environment… that by itself was really worthwhile for us.
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What other interesting insights emerged over the course of this project?
Kramer: Technically, we had a difficult puzzle to solve off the bat, which was, how do we tell the system that, ‘I've picked a location and that location requires a license agreement?’ And how does this system say, ‘OK. This requires a license agreement... AND here are some different rules that are going to govern how this [Location Authorization] is processed from start to finish...' just because they picked that specific address. And if they go, ‘Wait! I didn't mean to pick that address. Let me change it to something else...’ that the system can recognize, ‘This no longer requires a license,’ and takes it on a different path.
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How were the Permit Operations team’s two School Filming Coordinators involved in this project?
Donnella: We would meet with the Schools Coordinators three or four times a week at the beginning. Even once we had gotten all their requirements down and really understood all the work we were doing, I probably called them off-the-cuff, unexpectedly four or five times a week. They are incredibly good at what they do; they are incredibly thorough. We really wanted to give them the tools so that they could continue to be thorough and professional and also not mess up a good thing.
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GIS technology is a key feature of MyFilmLA. Where did that bring advantages and/or challenges?
Ekstein: We had the ‘what’ and the ‘when’ taken care of but not the ‘where,’ beyond, you know, an address or a school name. So, it was very much behind where we were with our MyFilmLA system, which took the location, plotted it on a map and then could show you, ‘what did that intersect with?’ So, what might be a conflict? Or an opportunity? And by integrating schools into MyFilmLA, we get that with schools as well.
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What do you find personally satisfying or rewarding about the project’s outcome?
Ekstein: I look at FilmLA’s commitment as a way for us to empower everybody we interact with -- that would be clients, customers, and internal staff -- to do their jobs better than they could without us. And the commitment to technology and process innovation is what allows us to do that.
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Donnella: It represents our organization’s parallel growth with the City of Los Angeles. Constantly being a partner in trying to find ways to make it a better place for filming… a place where people can come and create things, and at the same time a place where people are being mindful of the people that live here, mindful of the communities.
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Kramer: I think it's just nice to have it out in people's hands and they can actually use it. And, you know, we could continue to improve it, but heads down working on something for so long, you lose sight of how much you've accomplished. Yeah... it’s just rewarding and a relief, frankly, that it’s out there and it’s working, and it's getting the job done.
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