Company Town

Los Angeles is a company town. Where Washington, D.C. is all about politics; and New York City is mostly about finance; Los Angeles is about the Entertainment industry. Everyone is in the "industry" or connected to it in some way. The news is about entertainment. The talk is about entertainment. Everyone has some insight and inside information about what's going on.

However, there is one thing different from this company town and others. In other company towns all of the businesses, the government at all levels and the entire community support the work of the company. They all know that when the company thrives, everyone else thrives. There are loyal.

When I lived in Louisville, Kentucky the business of the town was tobacco, booze and horse racing. The drinking, smoking and gambling laws were the most liberal in the country. You don't want to bite the hand that feeds you. Even when the competitive business of health care began to rise in stature, they still took care of their core business. (I loved the irony in the juxtaposition of supporting cigarettes and booze along with supporting health care. Same Coin, two sides)

What surprises me in Los Angeles is that people seemingly hate the industry. Other businesses, the government and the citizenry are not supportive of the entertainment industry. It is visible in many places, but especially when it comes to location filming, film subsidies or building permits. NIMBYism ("Not in my backyard") rules in LA, particularly when it comes to filming and the mechanics of entertainment.

The towns with the highest percentage of people who work and make money in the industry (i.e., Malibu, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Santa Monica) have the most draconian rules against filming. In the past decade, a majority of location and studio filming has run away to other places where it is cheaper mostly due to the conditions being more favorable to filming. These states and communities have welcomed filming for the jobs and revenue that come with it. All the while, Los Angeles is running one of its main industries out of town. And everyone has felt the pain of its leaving.

This makes no sense to me.

I wonder what the causes are. I don't know but I suppose it might be:

• One argument is that those who work in the industry know what havoc filming causes. Since they know it, they don't want it to happen in their neighborhood.
  
• Another reason might be that the industry has done little to lobby for better treatment. In other cities, the steel, auto, tobacco, whatever industries put back in to the community in a large way and into the political campaigns. The entertainment industry does not do this. The industry most equipped to craft its image is a large failure at maintaining a positive and necessary image in this town.
  
• Perhaps, it is because the entertainment industry is not as monolithic. It is made up of many competing companies and parts.
  
• Or it might come down to envy. Everyone in this town is envious of others success.
  

Whatever the reason, one day Los Angeles might wake up and find it is no longer the entertainment leader of the world, but a bit player.