FilmLA returns to Community Filming Surveys for on-location permits

From today, 28 August, FilmLA is re-introducing the Community Filming Survey as a condition of location filming in Los Angeles.

The surveys are conducted door-to-door by the production companies or their representatives, near planned film locations, to establish any local concerns with the shoot such road closures, extended filming times etc. 

City and County partners had instructed FilmLA to temporarily suspend use of the Filming Surveys on 15 June, when production opened up again in Greater LA, as a precaution against the spread of Covid-19.  

Since then, FilmLA and City and County representatives including experts from the LA County Department of Public Health have worked together to update the Filming Survey guidelines. A new process, based heavily on the protocols applying to door-to-door visits by US Census workers, was adopted by City and County authorities this week.  

Productions filming in LA must have a designated a COVID-19 Compliance Officer (COC) known in other parts of the world as a Covid Supervisor. All city jurisdictions served by FilmLA are now accepting filming permit applications. 

One of the more high-profile projects to get cameras up and running in LA is Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest feature, starring Bradley Cooper. Details of the film are under wraps, but Cooper has recently been pictured wearing 1970s-style clothing on set in the San Fernando Valley area. 


La La Land image via Dale Robinette.