Let Hollywood In for Free

Recently, the public relations office of the Los Angeles Zoo denied me gratis entry when I requested it to view a particular compound that I am using as a scene in a screenplay I am writing. They required me to pay the $8.25 admission, as if I were a tourist to the facility.

Bureaucratic rigidity is an old story, fuel for movements as diverse as school vouchers to the pro-gun lobby. Still, it seems incredible that the public relations office of a city facility could be so petty toward even the minuscule cog that I am in an industry that is bedrock to the economic well-being of Los Angeles, especially at a time when the industry appears to be reconsidering its commitment to the city.

I’m not quite ready to have my word processor do a search for scenes headed “Los Angeles” and change them to, say, “Vancouver,” but I hope city officials aren’t so complacent that they disbelieve it could ever happen. One only need ask officials of the rust-bucket cities of the Midwest how unthinkable it is for vital industry to head for greener pastures.