Permits For Porn Plummet In Los Angeles

With AB 1576 currently in limbo, and perhaps gone for good, the stigma hanging over porn shoots in Los Angeles County has nevertheless caused a steep plummet in new permit applications. 

According to Variety (link below), the statistics are even more sobering than we imagined.

Permits issued for X-rated productions have fallen by 90% since 2012, when Los Angeles County voters passed Measure B in November of that year after a campaign contending that the law  would protect performers from outbreaks of sexually transmitted diseases. The porn industry had opposed the measure, asserting that mandatory testing of actors for HIV was effective.

FilmL.A., which handles permits for the city and county, said that the number of permits issued last year for porn shoots totalled 40. For 2014, that number through July was 20, which would likely equal about 35 by the end of the year.

It's not totally surprising that many companies have run off to Vegas where these hastily thought out laws have not taken hold. Paul Audley of Film L.A. says that the region as a whole is suffering in the wake of these films going elsewhere, and is encouraging common sense legislation to curb this exodus.

Film L.A. has been campaigning in favor of legislation to expand California’s production tax incentive program to compete more effectively with other states such as New York and Georgia.

“It’s not helpful to have another segment of the industry leave the region,” Audley said.

Via Variety