00:00I mean, the problem is, too, is that, you know, Film L.A. has this monopoly on the permits, and they make it very expensive and very difficult to pull permits.
00:08In the 90s, don't you remember in the days, I used to pay $80 an hour to a fire.
00:11Remember in the fire inspector you had to sit on your set to watch for fires if you were shooting in the Hollywood Hills?
00:16Yeah.
00:16And that was the 90s.
00:17Yeah.
00:1880 bucks an hour.
00:19Do the math.
00:19Yeah.
00:20Inflation.
00:20Not to mention, you had to have the binder, which we all get through so-and-so, whoever had the expensive binder.
00:25You gave them $200 a day, and your $625, you had to pay the—it was $625.
00:30Wasn't it $625 or something?
00:33When I would pull permits because of the times—
00:34You do the month-long ones, though.
00:36I had to do the dailies.
00:37No, because I was shooting mostly just stills.
00:39I didn't really get into shooting movies until later, so a stills permit was a lot less money.
00:43A stills permit was $250 for a year.
00:45A stills permit was nothing.
00:46A stills permit was like $125.
00:48For a year, right?
00:49No, no, no.
00:50Only for like two weeks.
00:51I thought it was like way cheaper.
00:52No, no, no.
00:53Unless you're talking about like a studio permit, that might have been different.
00:56But like, yeah, a video permit would cost you like $900.
00:59That's what I'm saying.
01:00I mean, that's a whole location fee.
01:01It was $625, $200 for the insurance thing binder you'd have to get.
01:05It was $825 or whatever it was.
01:07And depending on where you shot, you might have to get the fireman.
01:11Yeah.
01:11That's what killed you.
01:12You also might have to get a special permit from that city.
01:15Like Santa Monica had its own permit.
01:16Pasadena had their own.
01:17Yeah.
01:18It was a nightmare.
01:19Yeah, in a lot of cities.
01:21But that's why I would shoot it in like places like Ventura and stuff.
01:24Like they didn't, it was so much cheaper.
01:27Yeah.
01:27And you didn't have to do a lot of that stuff.
01:28Yeah.
01:29And that's why I found out a lot of weird rules.
01:31Like the Knolls didn't even have it.
01:32I didn't even have to have a permit because I got popped there one time by the cops.
01:35Where?
01:35In the Knolls.
01:36Where's that?
01:37Do you even know about this?
01:37No.
01:38The Knolls is that area between the valley, Chatsworth, and Simi Valley.
01:44Oh, is that like four box canyons?
01:47Yes.
01:47Yes, I do know that because I had a friend who had a location there.
01:51We got popped there once.
01:53Cops show up because the neighbors hated the house.
01:55I was shooting at a Hells Angels house because I used to do a lot of white trash whores.
01:57I was always shooting at, you know, you'd have to have a certain type of crowd to get the right look.
02:02Right.
02:03So I would shoot these houses that would usually be owned by whatever drug makers, Hells Angels, whatever, that type of crowd.
02:09We'd have to get these houses.
02:11And the neighbor had it in for the Hells Angels.
02:14It was bullshit.
02:15And they called saying that we had some 14-year-old girl and they're filming porn on her.
02:20And so the cops show up and they all come rolling in the driveway and they're like, we'd like to meet the actress.
02:26And they all went running because they're naked in this room.
02:29And she comes.
02:30She's like in her 30s.
02:31Yeah.
02:31And she comes walking out.
02:32They're like, never mind.
02:34I go, wait.
02:35And I was like, I tried to pull a permit here.
02:37Why are you guys here?
02:38He goes, well, you can't pull a permit here.
02:40And I said, there's no such thing as permits in the NOLS.
02:42He goes, yeah, we know that.
02:43You can do whatever you want.
02:44You're on private property.
02:46I said, why?
02:47He goes, yeah, keep on filming.
02:48I'm like, well, then why were you here?
02:49And that's how I found out why they were there.
02:51But that's how I found out the NOLS didn't need permits.
02:53Yeah.
02:54And that's honestly, and even for like just the bigger mainstream film industry, that's why a lot of filming has moved out of Los Angeles.
03:00It's a nightmare.
03:02It's become like too expensive.
03:03We can't get them in porn anymore.
03:04You know that.
03:05You can't.
03:06With OSHA.
03:07Yeah.
03:08Yeah.
03:08You know?
03:09Yeah.
03:09I stopped directing like two years ago.
03:11So it hasn't really been a thing for me anymore.
03:13But the problem is that porn is, look, thank God they're not going after it because everybody's a porn studio now.
03:19If you look at OnlyFans, there's roughly, what, 50 million porn studios in America?
03:22Yeah.
03:23Because I think by law, every high school senior has to get OnlyFans.
03:27So, and they all have to produce for it.
03:29They have to keep that content flowing.
03:31Yeah.
03:32I'm not being facetious.
03:33No, I know.
03:33This is an actual fact.
03:34No.
03:34They're making money.
03:36All the permit is for is if you're making money.
03:38Yeah.
03:38That is the new means of making money.
03:40There is.
03:41I agree.
03:41Because I remember I talked to someone at Film LA when I was going and scouting a place.
03:46This was a long time ago.
03:47And they said to me, yeah, if you're monetizing.
03:50So I said, so if I do a selfie right here and I'm like, hey guys, look at this cool place.
03:54And I put it on my YouTube channel and my YouTube is monetized.
03:58Well, it was back then.
04:00I have to get a permit for it, even though I'm here by myself with a cell phone.
04:03They said yes.
04:04And I'm like, get the fuck out of here.
04:05Yeah.
04:06Don't you remember like when you do the outdoor shots?
04:08I always remember this because the 90s, I did pull a lot of permits on the features.
04:12But the late 90s, we were usually trying to permit places on big features.
04:16Or you have a little house that you put in if you're just doing a small scene.
04:19So they didn't want you to pull permits because you'd blow it.
04:21A lot of the location owners don't want it.
04:23Don't want it.
04:23Because then they have to alert all the neighbors that you're shooting there.
04:27And they don't want the neighbors to know.
04:28And it blows it on when they get a mainstream movie in there.
04:31Yeah.
04:32Exactly.
04:32So you're on it.
04:33Yeah.
04:33But like you could run around.
04:35As long as you didn't set up a tripod and you're handheld, you could shoot on the street.
04:40Remember that rule?
04:40There's that too.
04:41Yes.
04:41If you go to the beach and you don't have a tripod.
04:43Right.
04:44So I was running around all the time.
04:45That's when I did so much handheld stuff because the tripod get you in trouble.
04:49Don't carry a tripod because I'm not setting up shop.
04:52Yeah.
04:53You know, running and gunning.
04:55And the 90s were great because you could run around downtown LA on a weekend.
04:57It was a ghost town.
04:58Remember that?
04:59Yeah.
04:59There was no businesses.
05:01Nobody lived there.
05:02Yeah.
05:02And I could get all the shots on the streets and stuff.
05:05It's crazy.
05:05Yeah.
05:06I was in high school in the 90s, so I don't know if I really remember that.
05:09Yep.
05:10Finally, someone who's been in the porn industry longer than me on my podcast.
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