L.A. FILM OFFICE SCOUTS OUT NET.

Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer

Movie and television producers will be able to obtain permits for production in Los Angeles County over the Internet later this year, officials said Thursday.

The Entertainment Industry Development Corp., which handles permitting for the city and large parts of the county, plans to launch the on-line permitting service in early June. Cody Cluff, president of the EIDC, said he believes the service will be the first allowing producers to obtain permits over the Internet.

``It will allow companies to file for permits any time of the day or night,'' he said. ``And it will allow us to deploy our coordinators more effectively. We often have just to 10 to 15 people overseeing more than 200 productions a day.''

The system, to be on display today through Sunday at the Locations '97 trade show at the Los Angeles Convention Center, also will feature a high-tech location tracking system to help alert production companies of other projects being shot in the same neighborhood.

``It will help us avoid having three crews shooting within a few blocks of each other,'' Cluff said.

EIDC, formed in 1995 from merging the city and county film offices, will take the first step toward on-line permitting by launching its World Wide Web site - www.eidc.com - in early April.

In addition to extensive information on rules and regulations, it also will feature articles about Hollywood insiders such as talent agent Gavin Polone, noted for his aggressiveness in one of the industry's most volatile professions.

In a related development at the trade show, the California Film Commission plans to demonstrate an expanded, electronic version of the state's location scouting handbook over the Internet and on floppy disc. The handbook includes information on the more than 8,000 most-requested locations in the state, as well as contact numbers.

The handbook, which was last published in 1991, will be available over the Internet on March 15 at two sites - www.usc.edu/dept/etc and the film commission's Web site, which will have a new address by then.

The handbook will feature private and public locations, including state facilities available free of charge.

The efforts to upgrade the permit process underscore the scramble among the nation's 250 film commissions to attract entertainment production. The county's share of these productions has grown by 27 percent and 29.4 percent over the last two years due partly to efforts by government agencies to streamline the permitting process with 1996 revenues estimated at $21.48 billion.