LA moves to revive filming slump with $1 city property deals

Hollywood is hurting, and LA is trying to make it cheaper to keep the cameras rolling.

The LA City Council approved two measures Tuesday aimed at giving micro-budget filmmakers a break, allowing crews of 10 or fewer to shoot in the City of Angels for free and letting productions use city-owned parking lots, yards and other properties for just $1 a day.

Both measures were introduced by City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian as part of his “Keep Hollywood Home” campaign, an effort to make filming in LA less expensive and cut through red tape as production continues to flee the entertainment capital.

“Today marks a major milestone for the Keep Hollywood Home campaign,” Nazarian said in a statement.

“With these latest actions, all Phase 1 motions have now been approved by the City. This progress demonstrates the impact of the Ad Hoc Committee and our commitment to keep up the pressure for real reforms,” he concluded.

The motions come just days after a new report revealed that film and TV productions are still on the decline in Los Angeles.

The latest report from Film LA last week revealed that production days dropped 5% from June 2026 to September 2026 compared to the same time period in 2025.

Production also dropped 11% from the previous quarter this year, and a whopping 36% under the five-year average.

This all comes despite the state of California expanding its film and television tax credit from $350 million to $750 million last year.

Nazarian’s Keep Hollywood Home campaign was launched on April 29, 2025, where he called on “all relevant agencies to make recommendations for streamlining the film permitting process and eliminating regulatory obstacles to film and television production in Los Angeles.”

The motions are part of “Phase 1” of this plan, which also includes creating a “Made in LA” branding system, soundstage certification and a full audit of the city’s “film ecosystem.”

Phase 2 would include a pilot program to waive fees from Recreation and Parks (RAP), Department of Transportation (DOT) and Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) for productions with less than 50 crew members, not including cast members.

Phase 2 would also include retention programs for post-production and visual effects companies plus a program that would have daily fee caps for productions that shoot on Certified LA soundstages.

There are also plans to offer incentives to local businesses that “welcome crews and support productions plus a $2 million seed fund to help small to medium-sized productions offset fee costs.

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