Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s plan to set up a centralized film office to issue permits and collect fees from TV and movie crews that shoot footage in the city has run into strong opposition.
On Wednesday, a meeting that drew a capacity crowd grew contentious as the City Council’s Finance Executive Committee considered whether the legislation should be reworked, scrapped altogether or allowed to die in committee.
Film industry workers and some elected leaders said Reed’s plan would kill jobs and drive business outside Atlanta. Critics say the law would add an extra layer of bureaucracy, raise fees to support the salaries of several city employees and actually gum up a process that hums along pretty well already.
Various fees built into the legislation could raise $150,000 for the city annually, according to some estimates. But that tally could change as the 29-page ordinance is revised.
“This legislation has overstepped what we really need,” said Mike Riley, a location manager for the AMC show “The Walking Dead.” Riley said he has booked numerous locations in Atlanta without a film office.
Reed said the proposed legislation will change to incorporate input from affected parties. However, he said the current setup to assist the film industry, which is spread across various departments, has to be streamlined.
Both opponents and supporters of Reed’s plan agree that the film industry is notoriously mobile and apt to go elsewhere at the first hint of burdensome regulation.
“If you’re a filmmaker, we want you to be able to pick up the phone and call one person,” Reed said. “[Now] one department doesn’t know what the other department is doing, and it is interfering with the effective use of our resources. There is a need for a central point to coordinate this activity.”
In a city struggling with 11.5 percent unemployment, film industry jobs — and the threat of their possible departure — have weight. Reed says he is trying to balance that while dealing with complaints from residents and business owners who encounter blocked driveways and public rights of way, sometimes with scant notice.
“This industry needs to be regulated in the right way,” Councilwoman Joyce Sheperd said. “We need to take the time to digest this. I don’t believe it’s been thoroughly read.”
Riley of the AMC show was among a half-dozen speakers who said the legislation was unnecessary.
“Regulation does send industry elsewhere,” he said. “Neighborhoods are negatively impacted by our presence sometimes, but we do try to notify the neighborhoods. I think it’s a misstatement to say we run rampant all over the city.”
Atlanta is home to several film hubs, among them Tyler Perry Studios and the EUE/Screen Gems television and film production site in Lakewood.
The movie industry in Atlanta and other Georgia locations has benefited from a state tax incentive that kicks in for film companies spending at least $500,000 in the state. The tax break can cover as much as 30 percent of a production’s budget.
Television networks, Hollywood studios, production companies and independent producers invested more than $647 million in Georgia in the 2008-09 fiscal year, with a total economic impact of $1.15 billion, according to the state. The industry employs about 36,000 people across the state.
Reed’s proposed legislation would establish a new entertainment filming ordinance and a process for distributing permits and collecting fees. Reed, a former entertainment lawyer, said his team has studied film offices in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, New York and Miami.
But in Wednesday’s meeting, Councilman Michael Julian Bond said the proposed legislation would overregulate the industry.
“I don’t believe this legislation deserves any more work,” Bond said. “If you make it any more cumbersome for the industry to be here, it’s easy for them to go next door to Decatur, or out to Valdosta.”
Council member Lamar Willis fired back: “Not for any industry should we ever sacrifice or abdicate our responsibility.”
For now, the legislation has been slowed. Yolanda Adrean, chair of the committee, said there was a lot of work to do before the legislation was ready for prime time.
“It’s a draft with a capital ‘D,’” she said. “This is not going to be on any kind of fast track.”
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