Production services at West Hollywood Public Access are only available to West Hollywood residents. Here are some commonly asked questions.

Q: "What do you charge for using equipment?"

A: Individual Producer Membership dues are $25 a year. Company memberships are $50 a year. All members are allotted a certain amount of free use of facilities and equipment to complete programming. Equipment/  Facilities Fee Use.

Q: "Will you provide crew and production services for me?"

A: No. WHPA provides training and access to equipment, but our facility is a "do it yourself" proposition. It is the responsibility of the producer to provide crew to work on their productions.

Q: "What's the first thing I need to do?"

A: Attend an Orientation meeting. Or, if you have a group of four or more people you may register as a Company and schedule Orientation and workshops outside the regularly scheduled calendar.

Q: "After I sign up, how long will it take until I have a finished show?"

A: It depends on the complexity of your show idea, and the production mode you choose to use. Live and Studio shoots take less time, but there may be a long waitlist for studio time. Shooting in the field and editing is more accessible, but takes longer to complete a finished program.

Q: "Do you rent out facilities for commercial production?"

A: No. Our facilities are exclusively available for the production of non-commercial, public access programming.

Q: "Do you have an AVID?" (and other equipment questions)

A: Check the facilities description on this site.

Q: "How do I learn to use your equipment?"

A: We provide training workshops every quarter covering all modes of production. Company memberships can schedule their own workshops. Advanced workshops are scheduled periodically, pending need. Check our events calendar for current workshop schedule.

Q: "What if I already know how to use your equipment?"

A: You can bypass our training certification by successfully passing a proficiency test, to be administered by staff.

Q: "How do you choose which shows get seen on the channel?"

A: WHPA is a forum for constitutionally protected free speech; we are not allowed to make programming decisions based on content. Our programming criteria, found in detail in our policy book, prohibit commercial content and constitutionally unprotected content (like libel, slander, invasion of privacy, and obscenity).

Q: "Who assumes liability for the content of programs then?"

A: WHPA does not assume liability for content of programs; individual producers do.

Q: "Do you put any controls on mature or offensive content?"

A: WHPA makes efforts to ensure that programs containing mature, sensitive, graphic or otherwise potentially objectionable material is scheduled appropriately and that warnings are issued on the channel prior to such programs being cablecast.

Q: "How does the City feel about some of the shows that run?"

A: As a government entity, WHPA has to be especially careful about not exercising any state control over speech on the channel. Nudity, profanity, indecent behavior and the like are not necessarily "obscene" and thus unprotected speech. And again, we do not control the content on the channel, nor do we assume liability for it; individual members of the community do.

If you have questions about programming, please send us an email