Productions Leaving L.A. Might Have Silver Lining

Stunning figures:

This year, only three big-budget movies have applied for permits to shoot in Los Angeles, according to Film LA, which issues them.

That compares to 21 major feature films – meaning those with budgets higher than $80 million – that shot on the streets of the city in 2008.

And that figure is down from the peak of 71 films shot with permits in L.A. in 1996.

While people losing their livelihood is not something to cheer about, there is a silver lining. Anything that helps the film industry become less L.A.-centric will only be a positive.

Maybe you have to live out here to feel this strong about it, but Los Angeles as a shooting location is played. The downtown skyline, Santa Monica Pier, Griffith Observatory, same freeways, same bridges, same Miracle Mile, etc… There’s only so much you can do with a sprawling one-story ghetto. Every once in a while a director comes along and shoots the city in a unique and imaginative way, but this is happening less and less. The last film where the city played a vital part of the story, as opposed to just … being there, might go all the way back to Michael Mann’s “Collateral” in 2004. And it’s not just Los Angeles. I’ve already set aside the bail money for when I run amok at the sight of another romantic comedy set in Manhattan.

Better yet, any experience anyone in Hollywood has with a region of the country where Obama won by less than 23 points has to be a plus. Extras and production assistants unafraid of Wal-Mart, religion and monster trucks mingling amongst those who come from the land where narcissism is taught as a value is what you might call a healthy cultural exchange. Especially today when Hollywood’s idea of a cultural exchange is a trip to Iran. (How absurd to travel thousands of miles to experience a culture hostile to Christians, America, victory in Iraq, and liberty with Santa Monica just around the corner.)

So called “runaway production” also gives those outside L.A. the invaluable experience of understanding how a film set works. An influx of experienced, talented filmmakers who didn’t grow up in the Valley bringing with them a diversity of values, traditions and ideas is just the shot in the arm this industry needs. The tension that comes with such competition would up everyone’s artistic game.