This video was made possible by Skillshare. Learn with Skillshare for free for two months
by being one of the first 200 people to sign up at the link in the description. This intersection here, home to a hotel, a
gas station, a CVS, a mall, and this U-Haul, is one of the most significant locations in
the motion picture industry, but nothing’s really here. But what was here was the headquarters of
the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and so they decided that they would
determine the way people got payed off an arbitrary thirty mile circle around them. Still today, this thirty mile zone sets Hollywood’s
rules and explains why movies are filmed where they are. As it turns out, the film industry is incredibly
bureaucratic. There are dozens of unions each with their
own rules on how, when, and for how much their members can work. For example, Sag-Aftra, along with most other
unions, has some super-specific rules on exactly when their members must eat. The first meal must start within six hours
of the initial call-time then the second meal, if there is one, must begin within six hours
of the end of the first. Most of the time, the food is provided on-set,
but if it’s not it’s defined as a “walk-away” meal and the workers must be given exactly
$12 if it’s breakfast, $18 if it’s lunch, and $30 if it’s dinner. According to the rulebook, union members must
also be put up in first or business class on flights when they travel, but of course
there are exceptions. Economy class is permitted on flights that
are non-stop, 1,000 miles or fewer, and within the US or if they’re non-stop to or from
a destination in the US within 1,000 miles of Vancouver or Toronto or if they’re non-stop
between Vancouver and LA, which is 1,086 miles, or if there are six or more members traveling
together on the same flight in the same class, presumably to help in times when planes only
have six first class seats. But back to the thirty mile zone. The TMZ, which is indeed what this fine journalistic
institution is named after, essentially determines whether a film shoot is considered local or
on-location. Within the zone, actors, producers, extras,
crew members, everyone just reports to work like a normal job. They sleep at home, pay for their own meals,
and make their way to or from work on their own. A crew member could live in Westminster, California,
just within the TMZ, where it would literally be faster for them to drive to Long Beach
Airport, arrive 45 minutes before their flight, and fly to Denver than it would be for them
to drive to Thousand Oaks, California, also within the TMZ, and they still would be paid
local rates. Since Los Angeles is the City of Stars and
cars, crew members can be asked to drive what can be up to six hours roundtrip each day
within the TMZ without any additional compensation. If a shoot is outside the TMZ, though, it’s
a whole different story. It depends on the union or production company,
but generally, the moment a crew member drives outside of the studio zone they must start
getting reimbursed for mileage. That’s set at the IRS minimum of 53.5 cents
per mile, which by itself isn’t much, but when there are hundreds or even thousands
of crew members and extras driving potentially hundreds of miles, that can add up. These rules have a big influence on where
films and TV shows shoot. It’s just much cheaper to film within the
TMZ so most projects are filmed here. For example, here’s where Pirates of the
Caribbean, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the Muppets were filmed; here’s where Westworld,
Django Unchained, and Deadwood were filmed; and here’s where Zero Dark Thirty, Iron
Man, and American Sniper were filmed. Each of these locations are just within the
thirty mile zone which means all those hundreds or thousands of crew members only had to get
paid for a normal day’s work as if they were in the studio. Hollywood production companies, especially
historically, have set up movie ranches where they have these vast open spaces that can
simulate the wild west, a dense forest, or any other environment despite being within
thirty miles of that fateful intersection in downtown LA. Largely because it’s just so much cheaper
to film within LA, Hollywood continues to exist as the definitive epicenter to the film
industry and it will continue to as long as the thirty mile zone exists. What will also exist for as long as the thirty
mile zone exists are Hollywood jobs which require knowledge which requires education
which is what you can get from Skillshare. With Skillshare, you can learn skills that
could actually eventually get you a job in Hollywood. They have classes on things like how to use
a Red cinema camera, how to edit in Adobe After Effects, how to direct actors, and so
much more. The great thing about Skillshare is they have
over 17,000 classes so if you want to learn something, there’s a good chance they have
a course on it. What’s best is that you can try all of this
out for free for two months by being one of the first 200 people to sign up at skl.sh/hai. Skillshare makes this show possible so please
do give them a shot and try out these two months for free, once again, by signing up
at skl.sh/hai.
Thanks for posting! I never knew about the Thirty Mile Zone and the reason they shoot within it, only knew the name.
Locations are usually referred to as in the zone or in the radius in casual conversation. Palmdale/Lancaster for example is pretty much the go to barren desert location since it’s just inside the zone, going any further into the tons of desert out there requires hotel rooms and per diem and meals for all crew members and gets expensive really quickly.
I thought they moved to Hollywood in the first place because of the good weather. Lighting was important and expensive in the early silent era, so the studios would relocate to places where sunlight was almost guaranteed. According to a quick google search, the AMPTP organization which made the rule the video is talking about was created in 1924, which was when Hollywood already was established. Of course it might have helped Hollywood's continued dominance, but it didn't "explain why hollywood exists", it's just one of the many reasons why it still is significant.
It would be better to say "This is why Hollywood continues to be the center for movie production". The reason Hollywood exists is because the film companies wanted to get away from Thomas Edison's Motion Picture Patents Company in New Jersey. LA was about as far away as they could get while being in the United States
This title is backwards. Hollywood doesn’t exist because of the thirty mile zone. The thirty mile zone exists because of Hollywood. And the fact is shows shoot where they get the most bang for the buck, which is only about 50% of the time in LA. Production is now global and all about incentives. Georgia and Louisiana have a fuckton of production, as do Chicago and New York. And that’s just in the US. UK, Ireland, Australia, and several other countries also have a lot of Hollywood production going non stop.
Considering all the shitty traffic you have to endure now instead of in the 20s. The circle probably should probably be reduced to 20 mile.
From the thumbnail, I thought this was going to be about the map in Escape from L.A..