Ad Producers Flee L.A. for Orange County.

In the battle between striking actors and ad producers in Los Angeles, ad agencies and their clients are fleeing to the other side of the proverbial Orange Curtain to find a haven.

While Screen Actors Guild protesters try to disrupt on-location filming in L.A., and the City Council is considering a union-backed proposal to bar commercial production on public property, Orange County cities are happily rolling out the welcome mat to film crews.

The number of film permits issued by Newport Beach is up roughly 35 percent, year to date, with 84 issued so far in 2000, said city Film Commissioner Joe Cleary. In Huntington Beach, production has spiked 20 percent in the past four months, said Michael Mudd, the city's division manager for cultural programs.

"It's significant," he said. "We are pleased because whatever is happening in Los Angeles is having a positive effect here, because the permit money supports cultural programs in the city."

The cities are doing more than issuing permits. They also are turning a blind eye to production companies that try to avoid demonstrators by falsifying permit applications, saying they are producing music videos or infomercials. This has become a common ploy by commercial producers because picketers use film permit information to target a shoot for demonstrations.

In Newport Beach, city officials are fending off daily calls from picketing members of the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television, Radio Artists. These unions recently started mobilizing their members in outlying counties and targeting commercial production companies that are leaving L.A.

The strikers try to shut down productions by picketing, shouting through bullhorns and talking talent into walking off the set.

"A lot of agencies are filing a number of different work or shooting permits to prevent SAG from disrupting production ... but they still seem to be able to find us," said Billy Fried of ad agency Doner in Newport Beach, which has fended off picketers in Los Angeles and Chicago. But in Orange County, cities such as Newport Beach won't play ball with the unions.

"It's not because cities are refusing to give us information, but they make it difficult and they are not very friendly," said actor Gordon Drake, strike coordinator for SAG in Los Angeles. "In L.A. County they will fax us those permits. OC doesn't want neighborhoods disrupted, and even though it's public information, they can say they don't have time for us."

Newport Beach Film Commissioner Joe Cleary says he sympathizes with the actors, but doesn't want to "shoot himself in the foot" by relaying locations of commercial productions to SAG strike teams. His stance is, "Don't ask, don't tell."

Glen Everroad, revenue manager for the city, says he is aware that producers are not being can-did about the nature of their productions, to avoid tipping off strikers. The city doesn't want to create problems for production companies or residents, so it has not helped the unions identify ad shoots.

"I don't want to create a police state and have to dedicate more public safety staff because (striking actors) may be disrupting production," Everroad said.

The cities' stance seems to be working. The only disruption in Orange County so far took place at the Balboa pier last month during a McDonald's shoot. Three SAG members pulled up in a fishing boat and quietly handed out brochures, Everroad said.

That may change, because union members in Orange County are sending tips to L.A. stike headquarters, where leaders are anxious to do more picketing in Orange County, Drake said.

"We are scouting a couple of (possible protest) locations in Orange County, including one in Dana Point," Drake said.