Business & Tech

Bringing Hollywood Dollars to Altadena

A new nonprofit started by an Altadena location manager aims to secure charitable donations from film production companies that film in town.

An Altadena resident and film location manager has founded a new nonprofit in an attempt to raise money for community projects from video productions companies that use sites in the town for filming.

Russ Fega, of the Home Shoot Home company, which helps out residents who want to rent their homes to production companies, founded the Altadena Community Chest as a way to spread the benefits of filming in Altadena beyond just those who sign up to host productions.

"It goes a long way to making people a little happier about having productions in town," Fega said.

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Whether it's a commercial, film or the latest episode of Justified, video productions on the streets of Altadena are not an unusual sight: an revealed that, in a 12-month-period, Altadena saw 643 permitted production days, meaning that on an average day two commercial productions were allowed to shoot somewhere in town

On occasion, there have been complaints about traffic, noise or other issues related to filming, though there are also many from renting out their property to companies.

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The Altadena Community Chest nonprofit has signed up several nonprofits and programs as beneficiaries from donations: The Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy, Altadena Heritiage, The Altadena Library Foundation, the Five Acres foster care home and , which is seeking donations to help maintain an after-school program.

The goal is for the the Community Chest to bring in voluntary donations from production companies and residents who rent out their homes and then pass along that money to those beneficiaries, and possibly others, Fega said.

It remains to be seen how successful the nonprofit will be, he added, as it has just opened and not yet secured any funding.  Fega said he has kicked off the founding of the nonprofit by emailing about 400 companies, location scouts and hosts.

In the mean time, those leading the organizations that could potentially benefit are grateful for the chance.  John Howell, of the Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy, which to open up to public access, said his group has to work just to get funding for operating expenses.

Any help that the group can get through Fega's nonprofit would be appreciated, he said.

"We really need to rely upon the good graces of the community just to cover [the operating budget," Howell said.

Fega said the Altadena Community Chest will be run by himself and his wife on a volunteer basis without any salaries, and will basically serve just to pass along donations to other groups.


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