Reality television shows continues to create the highest number of on-location of production days in the Los Angeles area, according to the latest figures released by FilmL.A. For the first quarter of the year reality television accounted for 2,840 permitted production days, outdistancing the days for on-location filming of feature films, sitcoms and dramas. For the first quarter of 2005, reality television filming accounted for 1,942 permitted production days. Total television on-location filming increased 29.7 percent or by 1,482 days for the first quarter when compared with the same period in 2006. FilmL.A. is a not for profit agency office coordinating permits for on-location filming. Its figures do not include filming on studio lots. Feature film on-location filming continued its drop, accounting for 1,860 production days in the first three months of the year. The drop of 526 days from the first quarter of 2006 is one of the steepest declines in feature film production since it started compiling figures in 1994. FilmL.A. President Steve MacDonald explained the decrease was due to the financial incentives other states offer to lure production away from California. “With substantial tax credits and rebates, other states have been able to lure big-budget films and the jobs and tax revenues that go with them,” MacDonald said.
