The latest FOIA releases from the CBP, DEA and LAPD’s Hollywood Offices, including contracts and databases of supported film and TV productions

Customs and Border Protection in Hollywood

After more than six years the Customs and Border Protection branch of the Department of Homeland Security sent me a new list of support film and TV productions.  Long-term readers may recall that I posted a CBP list way back when, but a comparison with the second list is quite revealing.

List One Supported Films/Theaterical Documentaries: The Terminal (Dreamworks), The Fence (HBO), Into the Wild (Paramount Vantage), Blue Potato (Independent), Contraband (Universal), The Good Wife (CBS), Mom (CBS).

List Two Supported Films/Theaterical Documentaries: 2 Fast 2 Furious (Universal), Maria Full of Grace (HBO Films), Traffic (20th Century Fox), The Terminal (Dreamworks), Ray (Indy), The Fence (HBO), Into the Wild (Paramount Vantage), Blue Potato (Independent), Contraband (Universal), Enemy Mine (20th Century Fox)

Some films have been added, such as Traffic, even though it was supported before they release list one to me.  Others have disappeared off the list for no apparent reason.  The CBP is clearly not playing fair or straight when it comes to FOIA.  One might also look at their IMDB page and find it is more comprehensive that what they’re releasing in response to information requests.

CBP Supported Film and TV list 1

CBP Supported Film and TV list 2

The DEA’s Contracts with Hollywood

Back in 2019 I wrote about the release of contracts between the Drug Enforcement Administration and Hollywood producers, covering the period 2011 to 2017.  I followed up with an additional request which, after a three-year wait, was denied on grounds of commercial confidentiality.  I countered with an appeal, and the DEA caved, recently sending me another 200 pages of contracts covering 2018 to 2021.  From a copycat request on Muckrock a couple of years later, which didn’t release anything post-2021, it would appear the DEA either stopped working with Hollywood that year, or are still trying to cover up what they’re doing.

Among the consistent clauses in these contracts is the one guaranteeing the DEA’s right to spy on producers and decide whether they’re pro-DEA enough to support their production:

Each Party recognizes the sensitive nature of information related to law enforcement actions and other DEA operations. Because of this, DEA reserves the right to perform background checks and, if necessary, deny access to those individuals who DEA believes may compromise DEA operations. DEA also reserves the right to limit the number of representatives who may have access to DEA in accordance with this Agreement.

Among the weird and wonderful shows supported by the DEA are Mysteries at the Museum, wherein the producer wished to reconstruct the tale of a certain Florida Man:

Producer is seeking to film the DEA Museum about an incident that occurred in Miami, Florida in 2012 when one man attacked another after having ingested synthetic cathinone (bath salts). Producer seeks to recount the events surrounding the incident, including describing the dangerous effects of synthetic cathinone on the human body.

The production agreement also states that:

DEA does not authorize Producer to film a demonstration of a controlled substance being removed from its package. Subject to availability of resources, DEA may create fake samples of the K2/spice substances that Producer will be allowed to film.

Another producer making a documentary series on the history of drug trafficking, asked for a long list of stock footage to help them tell their desired story:

Producer also seeks archival footage, to include, but not limited to, the following: pictures, video footage, audio recordings of opium dens in the United States and Chinese presence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the prohibition of alcohol, marijuana plantations in the 1920s and 1930s; Harry Anslinger, Lucky Luciano, and operations against the French connection and drug seizures; LSD and the Beat generation; Richard Nixon; members of the Guadalajara cartel; footage of the Mexican-U.S. border; Medellin and Cali cartels; opium production in Myanmar and the Golden triangle; Griselda Blanco and cocaine in Miami in the early 1980s; Amado Carillo Fuentes and General Reboil() in Mexico; operations in Afghanistan (e.g., labs,  eradication operations, poppy fields); the kidnapping and assassination of Kiki Camarena; Operation Condor in Mexico; and the arrest of Jose Na Tchuto in Guinea Bissau.

Other contracts included the standard list of things you’re not allowed to show in your documentary or fly on the wall reality TV show:

a. Recording of any shooting incident, regardless of who fires;
b. Filming of suspect interrogations;
c. Filming of a “live wire,” including filming where an individual’s communications are being monitored in any fashion;
d. Material regarding a case that has not reached final judgment;
e. Footage that exposes the identity of undercover Special Agents or any other Special Agents, who DEA has not approved to appear on camera; or
f. Footage exposing DEA’s confidential or sensitive investigative techniques or that interferes with DEA’s ability to safely and effectively conduct its investigations.

DEA Contracts with Hollywood Producers, 2018 to 2021

The LAPD’s Hollywood Office are Keeping Busy

The LAPD’s Hollywood Office (formally their Entertainment Trademark Unit) continue to be very busy, especially when it comes to adaptations of Michael Connelly’s novels.  The Lincoln Lawyer, Bosch and Bosch Legacy have both benefited from LAPD support since their inception, and the latest documents confirm an ongoing relationship.

Also in the LAPD documents are The Rookie, which I’ve analysed to death on podcasts and in videos, All American, The Kelly Clarkson Show, Real Murders of Los Angeles and In Pursuit with John Walsh also make consistent appearances in these annual databases of sponsored productions.  Beverly Hills Cop 4 also turns up, though it seems they got the majority of their support from the LA Country Sheriff’s Department, rather than the city PD.

LAPD – Entertainment Trademark Unit – Document Binder 2018-2019

LAPD – Entertainment Trademark Unit – Document Binder 2020-2024

Copaganda Rides On

These files are being made available for free, as per usual on this site, so researchers interested in both city and federal law enforcement propaganda (a.k.a. Copaganda) can do their own research and analysis.  Rather than repeat myself I’ll simply note that police (of varying kinds) are the third most common government characters in popular culture, and that the ongoing liaisons between the industry and real-life law enforcement institutions suggest this isn’t going to change any time soon.

Cops and Robbers, Drug Dealers and the DEA, smugglers and the CBP – it’s Cowboys and Indians for the 21st century, with all the attendant racial stereotypes and authority worship you might expect from these productions.  Though I quite like The Lincoln Lawyer the rogue cops are always individuals acting under their own steam or as part of the wider city politics, rather than due to endemic corruption within the police department.  And the defendants that Mickey Haller consistently gets off usually turn out to be guilty.