No Stockpiling in Film, TV Production

Overall on-location filming dropped 6.5 percent in Los Angeles for the third quarter. Feature film, television and commercial production recorded 9,281 production days for the period ending Sept. 30. There were 9,930 on location production days for the same period in 2006. The decrease came as a surprise to permitting coordination agency FilmLA, which had expected filming to increase as a way to stockpile films and television shows in the event of a strike by the Writers Guild of America. The Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers are currently negotiating a new contract. The current deal expires Oct. 31. The Guild’s membership overwhelmingly approved a strike authorization Oct. 19. “We had heard that production should continue to increase as contract talks intensified, but we just didn’t see that happen during the third quarter,” said FilmLA President Steve MacDonald. FilmLA coordinates on-location filming for the City of Los Angeles, unincorporated Los Angeles County, the Los Angeles Unified School District, and several municipalities. Television production increased by 2 percent with 5,950 permit days compared with 5,833 during the same period a year ago. Feature film production continued its downward slide falling to 1,897 permit days for the quarter. The figures do not include production taking place on studio soundstages.