L.A. TV Production Drops Sharply Amid Strike Fears

variety.com:

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer TV production in Los Angeles dropped sharply in the first three months of 2023, amid industry retrenchment and general concern about a strike, according to a new report from FilmLA.

Overall, on-location production days fell by 24%, compared to the first quarter of 2022. Most of the decline was in TV, which fell 35.8% over the same period. “The numbers are more dire than we thought they would be,” said Paul Audley, president of FilmLA.

FilmLA has been reporting year-over-year declines for the last three quarters, as the post-COVID production surge has wound down.

But Audley noted that studios are also reassessing their content strategy, and there is now the fear of a WGA strike, which has put some decisions about future production on pause. “It’s not just the Writers Guild,” Audley said, noting that both the DGA and SAG-AFTRA are set to negotiate in the next two months. “The looming question around labor action seems to have delayed the start of some programming…There’s a series of things that need to get settled before the industry resettles on a production schedule.” TV production was down sharply compared to the same quarter in 2022, but was also 24.2% below the five-year average.