The bad news continues for on-location production in Los Angeles, especially for television projects. The city and county’s film office said today that local on-location filming declined by 12.4% from 2023 during the second quarter ended June 30, recording only 5,748 shoot days (read the full report here and see charts below).
That’s also down by more than 1,000 days from FilmLA‘s Q1 report. Reality TV production suffered the worst hit, plunging by nearly 57% from Q2 2023 (868 shoot days vs.
1,317 last year). That helped bring down the overall television category, which fell by 27.7% to 1,901 shoot days. But that said, scripted television production posted an eye-opening rebound.
TV drama production soared by 98.3% (714 days), and TV comedy was up by 103.6% (171 days). TV pilots — nearly none of which were made in 2023 — jumped by 54.5% as networks gear up for the fall season. “Generally speaking, unscripted television is a location-heavy format that generates significant permit volume,” FilmLA VP Integrated Communications Philip Sokoloski said. “The employment impact of reality production is lower than it is for scripted TV, and projects are not incentive-eligible through the State of California.
Read more on deadline.com