Hollywood's production community is yelling "cut!" to a plan by the LAPD to take over the jobs of handling security -- many of which are filled by former cops -- on film sets.
A coalition of labor and industry groups, including the Teamsters and the Motion Picture Assn. of America, is seeking to block the Los Angeles Police Department's effort that would force production companies to hire only off-duty active police officers to control crowds and direct traffic at film locations.
The so-called movie officers, who don official LAPD uniforms, sport badges and guns and frequently sit astride motorcycles that look like they cruised on "CHiPs," are ubiquitous on location sets around the city. Unknown to casual observers, however, most of them are no longer working police officers.
Police Chief William J. Bratton has cited concerns that the retired officers who handle those jobs aren't accountable to the department.
But union officials, production workers and studio executives say such a change would raise filming costs and create scheduling bottlenecks that could further erode the local movie and TV production industry. In the last decade, L.A. has seen a steady outflow of feature film projects to other states and countries, many of which offer lucrative production rebates that aren't available in California.
"We feel this proposal . . . will just be another step backward in our ability to continue to film here in L.A.," said Ed Duffy, business agent for Teamsters Local 399, which represents location managers, studio drivers and casting directors.
More than 600 location managers, directors, actors and crew members from such TV shows as "Brothers & Sisters" on ABC and "Cold Case" on CBS have signed an e-mail petition opposing the changes in security staffing. The petition will be submitted to the Los Angeles City Council as early as this week.
Additionally, representatives of the MPAA, the Directors Guild of America and the Teamsters have met with several City Council members in recent weeks to convey their concerns and craft a possible compromise.
Retired officer Hal DeJong, president of the Motion Picture Officers Assn., which represents both active off-duty and retired LAPD officers, contends that his members have been unfairly vilified by the department. "The cadre of officers who are out there are highly professional," he said.
