On-location filming dropped by nearly 11% during the third quarter, according to figures released Wednesday by FilmLA.
The Hollywood non-profit that coordinates on-location filming in Los Angeles and other jurisdictions reported there were 9,066 shoot days from July 1 through September compared to 10,127 shoot days in the same period the prior year.
Among the major categories of production, shoot day activity for feature films and commercials declined year over year. Activity in television and other categories were more mixed, according to a release from FilmLA.
FilmLA President Paul Audley said the slowdown in production was expected.
“To that point we note that the Covid-19 Delta wave forced an out of season production shift last year,” Audley said in a statement. “That shift led to record-breaking filming levels in the latter half of 2021, so in light of that, this is a modest decline.”
On-location feature film production ended the quarter with 828 shoot days compared to 1,100 in the third quarter of last year. Local productions included Warner Bros. Entertainment’s “Barbie,” “Beverly Hills Cop” from Netflix and “Fast X” from Universal Pictures.
Commercial production declined by 33% to 1,021 shoot days this quarter, compared to 1,533 last year. Among the companies filming on-location for commercials were Kohl’s, Peloton, Southwest Airlines and Walmart.
A shoot day is one crew’s permission to film at one or more locations during a 24-hour period. FilmLA’s data does not include activity on soundstages or studio backlots.
Television was the bright spot for the quarter, despite showing an overall 11% drop in on-location production shoot days to 4,438 shoot days compared to 4.956 in the same period of the previous year.
Comedies showed an increase of 4% in production shoot days to 352, while reality television programs were flat with 2,824 shoot days in Q3 of this year versus 2,825 shoot days last year.
The other category which primarily consists of still photography shoots and student films, but also includes music and industrial videos, documentaries and miscellaneous categories of production posted an increase of 10% to 2,779 shoot days in the quarter compared to 2,538 shoot days in the third quarter of last year.