Tough L.A. Permit Process Puts Miami in Focus for Fashion Photography

Hilla Moll looks at her appointment calendar and wants to scream. Not a thing on the books in Los Angeles until February.

This is the time of year that her Malibu-based photo production firm, Hilla Inc., used to be booked solid with European catalogue companies. But the last time her company--which sets up photo shoots for catalogues and magazines--had a gig in the Los Angeles market was October.

“I should have my calendar full,” laments Moll. “But everyone is running to Miami.”

The same city that is luring away much of Southern California’s film and television production business is achieving even greater success at seducing away the giants of fashion photography--from Spiegel and its catalogues to the popular European fashion magazine Marie Claire.

On any given day, nearly three times as many catalogue and magazine advertisers are photographing fashion ads in Miami than in Los Angeles, according to industry estimates. Just a decade ago, Miami was only beginning to enter the business and Los Angeles was the kingpin. No more.

While Miami is embracing the new business, Los Angeles and neighboring cities seem to be pushing it away. Los Angeles County has nearly 100 separate jurisdictions, each with its own film and print production permit bureaucracy. But for all practical purposes, a single permit will suffice in the Miami area--and most other cities in Dade County.

“Los Angeles is the hardest place to shoot in America,” complained Dominick Guillemot, a fashion photographer who lives in Malibu but who spends nearly a third of his time photographing fashion ads in Miami.

“I’d rather shoot here, but my clients want to go where it’s easiest,” he said. That’s why Guillemot recently spent six days shooting print ads for Matrix hair care products in Miami instead of Los Angeles.

At issue is a lack of coordination among the cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Beverly Hills--where most of the big advertisers prefer to shoot their print ads. Each of the cities requires separate--and often costly--permits that can take days to be approved. In many Southern California cities, applicants must apply for permits in person.

Miami and the cities nearby generally charge nothing for permits, which can be approved over the phone. Applications typically sail through almost as fast as the click of a camera.

“Miami has picked up the fashion photography business and taken it to another level,” said Deeny Kaplan, director of the Miami Dade Office of Film, Television and Print, which is in charge of licenses for film and print crews. “The question is, how do we hold on to it?”

Up for grabs is millions of dollars in revenue--not just for production companies and agencies, but also for service businesses such as hairstylists and hotels. On any given photo shoot, a crew generally spends about $20,000 a day for goods and services.

While the Miami market is reaping the rewards from the 75 photo-shoot permits it issues on an average day, the number of permits handed out on a typical day in the Los Angeles market has fallen to less than 25. The problem: A photo crew of seven people shooting in the Los Angeles area can require three or four permits in one day. Permit costs often exceed several hundred dollars; they may even top $1,000 a day.

It adds up fast. A crew shooting in Santa Monica, for example, requires a $250 permit to shoot at Santa Monica Pier, another $300 permit to shoot on Santa Monica Beach and a $500 permit to work along the city’s popular Third Street Promenade. An additional permit--costing from $100 to $200--is also required to shoot on Santa Monica city streets.

A few entrepreneurs have even opened agencies in the Los Angeles area that specialize in guiding out-of-towners through the cumbersome permit process.

One of the area’s top hair and makeup agencies, Cloutier Agency, has seen its business fall off drastically, according to the owner, Chantal Cloutier. Just five years ago, the 35 makeup artists she represents were working virtually every day--even on weekends--but, since so much business has disappeared from Los Angeles, nearly a third of Cloutier’s makeup artists are idle, she said.

Since the migration from Los Angeles began about five years ago, some of Los Angeles’ major modeling agencies have seen gross billings shrink by as much as 90%, said Nina Blanchard, owner of the Nina Blanchard Talent Agency.

Rather than watch its business disappear, one of the town’s top modeling agencies, Elite Model Management, opened an office in Miami three years ago.

“Los Angeles has lost a tremendous amount of fashion business,” said Valerie Trott, president of Elite’s Los Angeles office. “It’s affected everyone in the fashion industry.”

Southern California officials are well aware of the problem. Indeed, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan recently assembled a task force to study it.

“We’re aware of how much easier it is to get permits in Miami,” said Cody Cluff, the city’s assistant deputy mayor for the entertainment industry. “But I can’t tell you it’s imminent we’ll solve this problem.”

Briefly . . .

U.S. domestic ad spending grew at a slower than expected 5.2% rate this year but should accelerate to 6.3% next year, mostly due to an improving economy, says a study by the New York ad agency McCann-Erickson Worldwide. . . . The Venice agency Chiat/Day has picked up an ad project for Cal-Pure Growers, marketers of Sunkist California pistachios. . . . The Los Angeles agency Schroffel & Associates has picked up the $800,000 ad account for UCLA Medical Center, formerly handled by the Colby Agency. . . . An estimated $5-million account review is under way for fX, the basic cable channel that Fox Inc. intends to launch in the spring. . . . DDB Needham/Los Angeles has picked up the estimated $5-million ad account for Arcadia-based Vons Pavilions, now handled by Torrance-based Saatchi & Saatchi/Pacific. . . . Three L.A. agencies are finalists for the $20-million Carl’s Jr. account: Grey Advertising; Lord, Dentsu & Partners, and Mendelsohn/Zien.