Overall on-location filming dropped by 4 percent in the third quarter across with feature films showing the highest decrease, according to figures released by FilmL.A. Between June 1 and Sept. 30, on-location filming of television series, feature films, commercials, television webisodes, and student projects totaled 10,773 permitted production days. In the same period in 2011, the total on-location filming was 11,210 permitted production days, said FilmL.A., the nonprofit agency that coordinates on-location filming in the city and county of Los Angeles and other jurisdictions. A permitted production day is a single crew’s permission to film a single project at a single defined location during any given 24-hour period. FilmL.A.’s numbers do not include filming on studio lots or certified soundstages. On-location filming for feature films totaled 1,640 permitted production days, a decrease of 21 percent from the 2,079 permitted production days in the third quarter 2011. Television took a turn for the worse during the third quarter, according to FilmL.A. President Paul Audley. “Many of the new TV projects we’re coordinating permits for have low spending and employment impacts,” Audley said in a prepared statement. “More needs to be done, policy-wise, to help return sought-after TV drama projects to Los Angeles.” Television production totaled 4,245 permitted production days in the third quarter, a drop of 1.4 percent from the previous year’s third quarter when there was 4,304 permitted production days. FilmL.A. breaks down television filming into four categories – dramas, sitcoms, pilots and reality programming. Only sitcoms has shown increases in on-location in 2012 when compared with 2011. Mark R. Madler
