Lot Full

Hollywood Center Studios Bends Over Backwards to Accommodate a Deluge of Cars

At any given hour of any give day there are hundreds of people on the lot at Hollywood Center Studios. They are involved in all manner of productions: television shows, commercials, music videos and films. Each person has a different job and different responsibilities, but most have one thing in common—a car.

Parking is a big deal in Hollywood and nowhere more so than at a busy studio like Hollywood Center Studios. HCS has five on-site lots to accommodate the vehicles of the many people who work and visit there. On-site parking cumulatively totals more than 1000 spaces, most assigned to tenants and working production companies. Through the use of valets, the studio can park about 400 additional cars. On especially busy days, HCS taps into satellite lots outside its environs for the overflow crowd.

"We currently have six television productions running on the lot, and each production has a staff of 50 to 100 people," explains Hollywood Center Studios VP, Pat Davis. "Some of them include a live audience—and we have commercial and music video shoots ongoing too. Nearly everyone gets here by car."

The efficient management of all this sheet metal is one of the biggest jobs faced by studio staff. Like weathermen, they try to forecast parking needs days in advance to ensure space is available for all who arrive. It's not always easy. Wanting to make sure they are covered, production companies will often submit parking requests for long lists of executives who "may," but rarely do, show up. Conversely some big wigs arrive unannounced and simply must be accommodated with a prime piece of real estate.

"If an executive from a major studio pulls up to the lot, I'm not going to say 'no,'" says Davis. "We not only have to be prepared to accommodate stars and other VIPs, we have to be able to recognize them when they arrive at the gate. That's the nature of the business we are in."

As a film studio, Hollywood Center Studios faces situations that would flummox ordinary parking lot attendants. Along with the usual sports cars, SUVs and Hummers, the studio has to find places to park oversize production trucks, animal trailers, talent trailers and craft services vans. Davis currently has four double star trailers used by a television series parked on his lot and expects four more to arrive next week. They will be parked there for months.

Having accommodated automobiles on its lot since the era of the Model T, Hollywood Center Studios has learned to cope with all such potentialities gracefully. "Keeping track of 1000 vehicles is not an easy task, but our approach is to eliminate problems before they arise," notes Davis. "Parking means a lot to people in this business. Obviously, their personal safety is also very important.  We have security guards and attendants in all of our parking lots. If their car is close by and well cared for, people feel safe and they're happy, and that's what we want, to keep our people happy."