The “Baywatch” production won approval on Thursday to park vehicles overnight at Venice Beach, after facing initial obstacles earlier this spring.
The California Coastal Commission approved an amended film permit that allows the production to park overnight at 27 spaces in the lot adjacent to the Venice lifeguard headquarters. Under the original permit, vehicles had to be removed by 8 p.m. every day.
The 12-episode Fox reboot began filming in March, but faced a series of issues with Los Angeles County officials who are responsible for enforcing beach access rules. Those issues culminated in an April 10 meeting at the Fox lot with L.A. Councilwoman Traci Park, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and Steve Kang, the film liaison for L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.
At the meeting, it was agreed that the production would seek to modify its film permit, which was first approved by the Coastal Commission in February.
The production submitted a request in April to extend its permit through January, which would allow for an additional 12-episode season. But under commission rules, that would require a separate film permit and cannot be done via amendment.
Instead, the permit end date was extended from July 16 to Aug. 7, allowing for delays that occurred during set construction. The executive director of the Coastal Commission was given leeway to extend the permit beyond Aug. 7 “for good cause.”
The production was also given an extra three months, until Oct. 31, to remove the temporary film set at the lifeguard headquarters, with the understanding that the set may stay in place if another season is approved.
The April amendment also included a request for nighttime filming, but that was not included in the version approved on Thursday. Filming hours remain limited to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., with a 15-minute grace period.
However, the executive director will have discretion to allow some night filming with advance notice, said Joshua Smith, a spokesman for the commission.
“Everyone is in agreement on the permit terms and happy on where we landed,” Smith said.
The commission also allowed the production to use a different route to take equipment between the set and the parking lot, which had proved more convenient than the one originally requested.
“As conditioned, the Commission finds that the development will not produce any longterm or significant adverse impacts on public access and recreation,” the commission staff reported. “The Commission will continue to evaluate public access issues identified in the required reports when analyzing any future filming activities and will consider expansion of mitigation measures as shown to be necessary and allowed for by the conditions of this permit.”
The amendment was approved without opposition and without any objection from the public.