Los Angeles On-Location Filming Dips 5.8% In Second Quarter But Still Ahead Of Pre-Pandemic Production Levels, FilmLA Says

deadline.com:

On-location filming in Los Angeles fell 5.8% in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year – the first decline following three consecutive record-breaking quarters.

Even so, local production has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, finishing 6.8% ahead of 2019’s second quarter and 2.7% ahead of 2Q 2018, according to FilmLA, the city and county film office.“We expected we would see production return to pre-pandemic levels sometime within the year, and now here we are,” said FilmLA President Paul Audley said in the group’s Q2  (read it here). “Resilient in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, and with industry leaders taking steps to protect both worker and community safety, we have confidence in the film industry’s ability to sustain local production at or above its historic levels.”On-location shoot days totaled 9,220 in the second quarter, down from 9,791 in Q2 2021.

FilmLA defines a shoot day as one crew’s permission to film at one or more locations during all or part of any 24-hour period.

The data doesn’t include projects shot on certified sound stages.Feature film production was up 9% to 898 shoot days in the second quarter, even though only 81 of those days (9% of the category) were on productions directly tied to California’s $420 million-a-year tax incentives program.