Los Angeles On-Location Production Falls Again; Q2 Down 12.4% As Scripted TV Rebound Is Offset By Plunge In Reality Fare

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. It remains an important part of LA’s production economy.”

Elsewhere, Feature Film production dipped by down 3.3% to 704 shoot days, most of which involved indie pics. Two of those, Dreamquil and Lurker, were produced with help from California’s Film & TV Tax Credit Program. A pair of streamer productions, Amazon MGM’s Mercy and Apple Studios’ Bubbi, also benefited from the state tax incentives.

Commercial production was down by 5.1% from Q@ 2023 to 817 shoot days.

FilmLA’s report also reminds that, while last year’s WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes hammered the local film and TV industry’s output, a sustained pattern of decline in production was evident before those labor actions. The slide has unfolded over time and affects all top production categories. On a rolling five-year basis — excluding Covid-clobbered 2020 — overall on-location filming levels heading into summer are down by6 one-third of their five-year seasonal average:

FilmLA today also issued its Sound Stage Production Report for the first half of 2023, covering January to June, including the first two months of the writers strike. Uncertainty about the outcome of the unions’ contract talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers saw occupancy levels drop substantially last year, dipping to as low as 74% by the second quarter — the film office’s lowest reported occupancy level since formal study of this sector began in 2016.

A little more than 700 projects filmed on stages during the study period, FilmLA said.

“Study participants reported that use of sound stages and backlots was something event producers, marketing agencies and other parties often pursue,” Sokoloski, “but in recent years many of these inquiries had to be turned away due to lack of space.”

FilmLA said two more updates are planned by autumn.