L.A. City Council Passes New Motions Aimed at Film-Friendly Overhaul

As filming levels in the city continue their downward momentum, the Los Angeles City Council passed two measures in a meeting on Wednesday to attempt to stem the bleeding. The measures, both introduced by City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian, create a free microshoot permit for ultra-small productions and open up city-owned parking lots, yards, civic properties and staging areas to productions for just $1 a day. The microshoot motion will provide small projects with 10 or fewer production personnel with permits to film on-location in L.A. without a fee, making filmmaking less onerous and expensive for student filmmakers, documentary crews and ultra-low-budget projects in the city. As for the second motion, the idea is to make city-owned spaces that films and television shows generally use for base camp, crew parking and other low-impact activities more accessible and affordable. “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.” The development arrives less than a week after city film office FilmLA found that shoot days for film and television in the city continued to fall from June to September in spite of local and state efforts to encourage more production to return to the city. L.A.’s shoot days dropped nearly five percent compared to the same period in 2025 and 11 percent from the previous quarter. In 2025, California more than doubled the funding available for its film and television tax credit program, from a previous $330 million a year to $750 million. On a more local level, Mayor Karen Bass issued an executive order in 2025 to streamline the city’s permitting process. Meanwhile, seven initial motions from Nazarian to improve filming practices in L.A. passed the full Council earlier this year. THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day Subscribe Sign Up