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Filming In Newhall Features Stars, Mock Guns And Road Closures

Old Town Newhall Business Owners Meet With City Over Filming Concerns

Old Town Newhall business owners met with City of Santa Clarita representatives on Tuesday over concerns of the impact of filming on business revenue in the area.

Representing restaurants, arts centers, retail shops and other industries, the business owners of Old Town Newhall met with City officials and film industry representatives to discuss issues related to film productions in the area.

In the last fiscal year alone, the City issued 526 film permits — resulting in 1,380 film days — which generated an estimated economic impact of more than $33.4 million, according to City officials.

This number does not take into account filming on one of the more than 20 certified sound stages in Santa Clarita, which do not require a permit, along with 10 movie ranches in Santa Clarita.

The relatively small area of Old Town Newhall is heavily saturated, causing access issues for business owners and deterring potential customers from visiting the area, according to officials.

Newhall Business Blues

Renee Kennedy has owned the Earth Baby boutique for seven years, with one storefront in Sherman Oaks and another on the 24300 block of Main Street in Newhall. Kennedy stated that although filming is common in both locations, it is filming in Santa Clarita that is causing her the most problems.

“(In Sherman Oaks) we’ve always been compensated if there is any filming anywhere on the block because they know that the parking is limited,” Kennedy said. “Up here there isn’t a ton of parking, and the minute my customers see filming, they aren’t coming in.”

Kennedy went on to mention that as her primary customer base is made up of grandparents, expectant mothers or parents of young children, it is “unrealistic” to expect them to walk all the way from the new parking structure on 9th Street and Railroad Avenue —  often the only public parking available on filming days — in order to pick up orders or simply browse.

She has also experienced issues bringing in revenue and inventory due to filming days blocking parking availability or whole streets.

“I can’t walk from the structure with five boxes of inventory all the time. Nobody can find parking, I have had $0 days every single film day compared to the $1,500 days that I normally get,” Kennedy said.

At the meeting on Tuesday, Kennedy brought up the issue to representatives from several film studios that commonly film in Santa Clarita, requesting that store owners receive compensation for the days that they were unable to work or bring in income due to filming.

“I said, ‘Why stay open during the days you guys film if it is costing us money?’, and they told us we were ‘extorting’ them,” said Kennedy of one particular studio. “I don’t know what I’m going to do in three months. If we end up having to leave because we can’t make any money, is the City going to help us break our leases and help us get out of that?”

Santa Clarita Studios

As a 43-year veteran of the film industry, as well as a Santa Clarita resident, President of Santa Clarita Studios Mike DeLorenzo has worked on thousands of film projects in and around the community.

“When I am out trying to get more clients, one of my biggest selling points is that it is a film-friendly city. Our City Council understands, our businesses understand and our community understands,” said DeLorenzo. “So when I hear that a production company is not treating our businesses as they should, it upsets me as much as it upsets the business.”

DeLorenzo noted that it is the close and harmonious relationship between the film industry and the Santa Clarita business community that has allowed for such success in the development of Santa Clarita.

“I am positive we can come up with a solution,” said DeLorenzo.

City Oversight

After the Tuesday meeting, the City of Santa Clarita has elected to pursue several possible solutions to the issues plaguing Old Town Newhall, aiming to find a way to “balance the needs of the film industry so that they were beneficial for the businesses,” according to Jason Crawford, manager of marketing and economic development for the City of Santa Clarita.

One of the solutions proposes requiring a City staff member to be onsite to monitor all filming productions in Old Town Newhall in order to supervise and quickly address concerns of both local businesses and productions using the area.

“Sometimes a production company is only supposed to park from ‘x’ area to ‘y’ area, but an assistant might park beyond the scope,” Crawford said. “Sometimes it’s probably been deliberate but sometimes it has been an honest mistake, and having a City staff member can help resolve that situation quickly.”

Another solution set to be implemented is a moratorium on weekend filming, which would prevent productions from filming in Old Town Newhall from Friday evenings through Saturday night.

“Fridays and Saturdays are the busiest times for businesses, and filming on those nights is an inconvenience,” said Crawford. “It’s for this reason that the City generally encourages productions to film on weekdays, but as of today, we’re looking to make that a hard and fast rule.”

Business owners in Old Town Newhall are set to meet with City officials and film industry representatives in January 2020 to evaluate the success of the changes set to be implemented.

“It’s really important for us to find a way to let both of these groups be successful for years and years to come,” Crawford said.


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Old Town Newhall Business Owners Meet With City Over Filming Concerns

7 comments

  1. I certainly hope our City does SOMETHING about this issue. This has been ongoing for quite a while now, and the filming seems to happen more and more. I am in Downtown Newhall often, and just last week, they had all of Main Street blocked off from El Troc down to who knows where. I was going to go to El Troc for lunch but then I didn’t want to even deal with how crowded everything was so I didn’t even bother to look for parking. There were people and cars everywhere. It’s definitely out of control and I hope the City actually fixes the problem. If the City even thought that parking in wrong spaces was “deliberate” as stated above, they should have stepped in well before this meeting!

  2. I work downtown newhall. We have filming going on all the time. I have no problem with filming . The filming company have compensated for usi g our parki g area and running wires through our parking. Very ni e if you were to meet with the location manager and talk to them about the issue of compensation. We need them to film in santa clarita and we as a community need help to make santa clarita the best out there and to kerp it growing strong. Filing in our community is exposure and it brings us closer to our community and having a relationship with the untouchables. It makes our community live again.

  3. Filming in the Bridgeport community has caused many problems in the past. SCV turns their heads when it ones to enforcements of the permits they issue. City hall film permit dept. becomes unraveled if you request to see the details of the permit issued. Protecting the filming and location company is their number one customer. Homeowners and business owners are not a priority in this town.

  4. It is causing problems in Newhall too. Noise and traffic, people everywhere. We are not the back lot of Warner Brothers! As usual, the City makes money on the backs of its residents by disturbing their peace. Enough is enough. They need to limit filming.

  5. I had no idea you could make $1500/day at a baby boutique in downtown newhall. And they told me it was the death of retail!

  6. They been filming in Downtown Newhall for DECADES!!!!!!!!! Check out the movie Suddenly. Not to mention they have been filming in SCV before it was even called SCV . Our town is like Little Hollywood. Sorry you’re just finding out now. Do your homework and you can benefit from filming. They filmed at our house and we received $2500 a day.

  7. There is tons of filming in my neighborhood and on my property. I am never asked permission and never given money. They are also rude, leave trash, block my driveway, fill my trashcans, the list goes on. I used to think filming could benefit out city, I am fed up with how we get treated, how the city ignored all complaints, does nothing, they know of oak trees being damaged, they know about the rude behavior of filming people, they know my property is being used without permission, they know I don’t get notified, the list goes on, and they do nothing, the city does nothing but damage our community, they disrupt out lives, they destroy our property, they kill our oak trees, they stand by and someone is getting the money and it is rude.

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About Jade Aubuchon

A Santa Clarita native, Jade has spent her whole life involved in community outreach. After graduating from Learning Post High in 2015, she went on to College of the Canyons to pursue a double major in English and Marketing. Jade spent several years as a ballroom dance performer for a local studio and has performed at public and private events throughout Santa Clarita. As KHTS Co-News Director Jade oversees the KHTS news team, which covers all the latest news impacting Santa Clarita. Along with covering and writing her own news stories, Jade can be heard broadcasting the daily local news every weekday morning and afternoon drive-time twice an hour on KHTS 98.1FM and AM-1220. Jade is also instrumental in reporting on-the-scene local emergencies, covering them on-air and via Facebook Live and YouTube. Another dimension to Jade’s on-air skills and writing are her regular political and celebrity interviews, including her bi-monthly interview with our Congressman Mike Garcia and many other local politicians and community leaders.