But Los Angeles doesn't need the money anyway. All the budget problems are over, cause they found that "budget dust" ($90 million in "suddenly found" money that was in someone's back coffer drawer.) So let the city lose the money in runaway production. They don't need the $$$.
Plot twist for cops on film sets
Concerned about the retired officers' cozy ties to studios, the LAPD considers using active-duty personnel. [ZD says, "Really? I thought the mayor can't even hire the 1000 he promised, as it is. Now as you are trying to target crime zones in the City, you will be spreading the force thinner by enforcing sitcoms?]
EXCERPTS from full article:Todd is one of a long line of ex-LAPD officers who, for decades, have been mainstays on film sets in Los Angeles, directing traffic, escorting car chases and, in general, keeping the city's fantasy world separate from reality. But amid growing concern by residents and LAPD officials that the retired officers enjoy too cozy of a relationship with the Hollywood studios that pay them and are being too lax in enforcing filming permits, a battle over possible changes to the old way of doing things is brewing.
Los Angeles police officials, seeking to increase their oversight of film sets, are reviewing the long-standing practice and considering a host of changes. The most dramatic idea is to retire the retired cops and require film crews to hire off-duty, active officers instead. It is part of a larger LAPD proposal under consideration to establish a contract service division that would give the department control over use of off-duty officers at major sporting and other events.
Hollywood studios are determined to keep them on the job.
Melissa Patack, a vice president of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, said a wholesale change from retired to off-duty, active LAPD officers would seriously undermine the ability of directors and producers to stay on schedule and budget. Retired officers, who are not subject to the LAPD's strict overtime limits, can remain on set for the typical 12- to 16-hour days. Patack imagines a scenario where producers instead would have to hire multiple crews of off-duty police officers and disrupt shoots to switch them.
"Frankly, that doesn't work for production," she said. "It would tie the hands of production crews."
Patack said the studios welcomed LAPD's move last year to assign a sergeant to oversee the film sets and make spot checks to ensure permit compliance. A push for a blanket ban on retired officers, however, could unleash an all-out battle.
***
Zuma Dogg spoke with an Emmy Award winning Television director who I was discussing this issue with today. I said, "The city can't even hire enough cops as promised, now. And now you will be taking away cops from actual crime fighting."
The director snapped back, "And even more productions will leave the area." (Recently it was announced that a weekly network show was moving to NYC to shoot to save money. (This is a first.)
And the director I was speaking is actually (one of) the most efficient director(s) in town. I said to him, "If everyone was like you, Hollywood would save a lot of money." And it made me think of a way Hollywood could improve efficiency of the production, save time, and therefore overtime, and therefore money. (And everyone enjoys an improved quality of life.)
Here's the solution:
HEY HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS!!! TELL YOUR OBSESSIVE-COMPULSED DIRECTORS TO STOP TRYING TO TO FELLINI...GET THE SHOT AND MOVE ON!!!
I am serious as hell when I say a lot of overtime and problems caused by extended production hours on the streets is due to director insanity. I'm not saying compromise production, or the product, but as someone who has worked hundreds of days on movie and television sets -- these knuckleheads could get the shot in much less time, most of the time. I've worked on half hour shows that ran into Golden Time (16 hour plus days). AND THE OVERTIME AT THAT POINT IS YOUR DAILY SALARY EVERY HOUR!)
It's all obsession. Get the shot and move on. Some directors are already operating this way. But some of these other directors need to stop being a bunch of spoiled brats and let the rest of the mere mortals around you enjoy a little quality of life.
AND LAPD, you are nuts if you try to crack down on movie and tv shows when you have a horror reality show going down on the Streets of Los Angeles 24/7. (Maybe the mayor can quadruple the trash collection fees to hire the extra cops that he still can't find even if he had the money.)
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