Last week, a Southern California restaurant owner went viral after sharing a video of her outdoor dining space being shut down by state and city officials while 50 feet away, a similar dining space for crews working on NBC Universal's “Good Girls” series was approved. In the eyes of many, the video highlighted how those with connections and power have been able to sidestep COVID-19-related restrictions, and a new report from The Intercept's Lee Fang highlights how Hollywood has been able to continue operations while the rest of the state enters a new shelter-in-place order tied to intensive care unit capacity. According to the report, some of the state's biggest studios have funneled tens of thousands of dollars into lobbying efforts in an attempt to receive more lax guidelines from the state. For example, Warner Brothers spent $22,500 on lobbyists contacting Gov. Gavin Newsom's office for “COVID/OUTREACH, TV/FILM PRODUCTION" and Netflix spent a whopping $70,725 per quarter on their lobbying efforts. The report notes that Netflix's increased lobbying spending includes increased fees to Axiom Advisors, a lobbying firm founded by Jason Kinney. If that names sounds familiar, Kinney was the individual who had his 50th birthday party that fateful night at The French Laundry. Earlier this week, ABC7 published a report on eight companies partially owned by Newsom receiving almost $3 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, which raised some eyebrows since one company received $918,720 despite only having 14 employees.
