LA Cuts Film Crew Parking to $1 a Day
Location vendors and small crews filming in Los Angeles will see lower permit and parking costs under the new rules.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Remote Work
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Should Los Angeles cut film permit and parking costs to keep productions from leaving?
The Los Angeles City Council passed two measures aimed at cutting costs and barriers for local film productions. One creates a free micro-shoot permit for crews of 10 or fewer staff filming in public spaces, and the other sets parking at most city-owned lots to $1 a day for most productions.
Why it matters
Total shoot days in Los Angeles fell 4.8% from July to September compared with the prior year, and the city is trying to make it cheaper and simpler to film there. The measures reflect a belief that permitting and other local rules push crews toward lower-cost production hubs.
Shoot days totaled 4,171 from July to September, down 4.8% from a year earlier, according to FilmLA. Previous parking charges of $100 to $300 a day for crew parking and $450 a day for park base camp parking have been reduced to $1 a day for most productions at city-owned lots.
The players
Los Angeles City Council
The 15-member legislative body that sets local rules for permits, parking and public property use across the city.
FilmLA
The city's film permitting office that tracks shoot days and production activity used to gauge the local filming industry.
Adrin Nazarian
A Los Angeles City Councilmember who is leading the Keep Hollywood Home package of measures to bring production back to the city.
The details
The micro-shoot permit applies to productions with 10 or fewer staff filming in public spaces and requires a short one-page application rather than a full permitting process. The parking measure reduces fees to $1 a day at city-owned lots, yards, staging areas and civic properties for most productions, with some exceptions. Both measures are part of City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian's Keep Hollywood Home package, which contains nine measures in its first phase.
Timeline
Feb. 17: A producer spoke in support of the Keep Hollywood Home measures at the Council meeting.
Last Tuesday: The City Council passed the two measures.
July to September: Citywide shoot days totaled 4,171, down 4.8% year over year.
Market Landscape
The state's expanded film and TV tax credit already accounts for 40% of scripted on-location filming in greater L.A. in the third quarter, according to FilmLA. The city's permit and parking changes are aimed at keeping crews from shifting to hubs such as New York, Atlanta, Texas and Illinois.
Businesses that rely on production crews, including location services, equipment rental and catering, should watch whether lower permit and parking costs lead to more shoot days. Operators in these sectors should track FilmLA's quarterly figures as the second and third phases of the package move forward.
The takeaway
Lower fixed costs for production could bring back shoot days that have declined, so location-dependent vendors should factor in the new permit and parking terms when planning. Track the next FilmLA quarterly report to see whether the 4.8% decline reverses.
Further reading
For more on how production-driven local economies are shifting, see Remote Work in Los Angeles.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Los Angeles Business Journal.
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Should Los Angeles cut film permit and parking costs to keep productions from leaving?
