Location Filming Grows in Q3

On-location filming in the third quarter increased by 3 percent compared to a year ago, according to a report released Thursday by FilmL.A. The Hollywood nonprofit group that coordinates film permits in the city and unincorporated county said that reality television and web-based programs powered the quarter as feature film production dropped. During the quarter film crews worked on location for 9,795 shoot days, as compared to 9,510 shoot days in the same period a year earlier. A shoot day is one crew’s permission to film at one or more locations during a 24‐hour period. The statistics track on-location filming of television series, feature films, commercials, web videos, music videos and student projects – but not work on studio lots or soundstages. Out of the categories that FilmL.A. tracks, television posted a 2.7 percent increase from the prior year, helped by the state’s production tax incentive program. FilmL.A. President Paul Audley said that one-quarter of television dramas and comedies received incentives. Those shows include “Westworld,” “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and “American Horror Story.” “California’s film incentive is now helping to sustain local TV production after seven straight quarters of growth,” Audley said in a prepared statement. “We knew we’d see a leveling off as the program reached full utilization.” Web-based television shows posted a 72.2 percent increase to 651 shoot days compared to 378 shoot days a year earlier. Reality programming went up by 6.6 percent, or 1,342 shoot days. Feature film production fell by 5 percent to 1,089 shoot days compared with 1,146 shoot days in the third quarter of the prior year. Commercials dropped by 2.6 percent to 1,245 shoot days.