I have been in Locations for 18 years and have run into a multitude of issues involving crazy screaming neighbors, torrential rainstorms flooding a set and even construction crews starting concrete demo next to a set on the first day of a shoot.  The one thing that is always consistent when I’ve run into trouble is FilmLA’s ability to assess the situation and come up with amicable responses.  CJ Leavens has been my go-to contact at FilmLA for years.  I always know she will jump right in and find resolutions that work for the community and the film crew.  The best attribute of CJ is that she is fair, meaning she looks at the problem and creates solutions in the moment.  She has a unique ability to think of the bigger perspective – how will this affect future filming, how will this look right now to the neighbors, can we meet halfway so the film crew and the tenants/neighbors see a way through to a successful film day – while she’s dealing with my issue during our first conversation. CJ offers solutions that help our location team.  When the LAPD reduced our street parking due to neighborhood restrictions, she offers parking solutions.  When working on a feature trying to film in the LA River for five days, we needed over two months to prep the location and several different government entities like DOT, LA Flood Control, MRCA, Army Corp, Metro, to get approvals. We could not have completed our filming without CJ.  She advised at every roadblock along the way in navigating the different entities.  We had a successful shoot and because of CJ, we were able to come back two months later for complete reshoots with just a few phone calls. We appreciate CJ and acknowledge her for her effort, wisdom and creativity in finding solutions.