Incentives Keeping Feature Films in State

The state’s tax credits to keep feature film production here continue to pay off, according to second quarter numbers released by FilmLA. The number of on-location permitted production days on features increased by 11 percent between April and June when compared to the same period in 2009. Filming took place 1,542 days this year while a year ago it was 1,383 days. Overall, filming for features, television, commercial and other projects went up by 16 percent in the second quarter over a year ago. A permitted production day is a crew filming a single project in a single location within a 24 hour period. FilmLA numbers are on location and do not include filming on studio soundstages. FilmLA, a not for profit contracting with the city and county of Los Angeles and other governmental bodies to coordinate on location filming, credited the state incentive program with the boost in feature film productions. The program makes available $100 million to offset the costs of filming. “This is great news for industry workers and the thousands of small businesses that support film and television production in California,” said Amy Lemisch, director of the California Film Commission. On location filming for commercials and miscellaneous project also went up significantly in the second quarter. Permitted production days for commercials were at 1,604 in the quarter compared to 1,193 in the same period in 2009. Television production, however, was only up 1.4 percent from the second quarter in 2009. FilmLA President Paul Audley said he expects drama and sitcom work to pick up over the summer and continue into the fall. Mark R. Madler