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On-Location Filming Up in Second Quarter

Despite concerns over runaway production, on-location television filming and total on-location production increased in Los Angeles in the second quarter, but the industry group that tracks filming said the data was somewhat misleading. Overall, on-location production went up by 17 percent to 11,951 permitted production days, compared to 10,187 permitted production days in the same period a year earlier, according to a quarterly report released Wednesday by FilmL.A. Inc., the Hollywood non-profit that handles production permitting in the city, unincorporated neighborhoods and other jurisdictions. Local production includes on-location filming of television series, feature films, web videos, music videos and student projects. The numbers do not include work on studio lots or soundstages. Feature film production dropped 5.3 percent in the second quarter to 1,665 permitted production days, while television showed the most gains, leaping 33 percent to 6,761 permitted production days. FilmL.A attributed the increase to television production having been delayed in the first quarter and more local crews working to support the early summer premiere of new and returning shows. “Today’s report illustrates the challenges we sometimes face in interpreting film industry data,” said FilmL.A. President Paul Audley in a prepared statement. “It’s crucial that observers understand the losses the region has already suffered, so as to view reported short-term gains with the proper perspective.” Most categories of television production – sitcoms, one-hour dramas, reality and web-based programming – were up in the second quarter with the exception of pilots, which decreased by 26 percent. A FilmL.A, report from June shook up the industry when it found that only 44 percent of pilots were shot in Los Angeles for the 2013-2014 season. That was a drop from the prior year when slightly more than half were shot locally, and a sharp slide from 2007-2008 when the figure was 82 percent.

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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