L.A. on-location film shoots drop 19%

Like the national economy, filming on the streets of Los Angeles remains tepid.

Overall on-location filming dropped 19% last week over the same period a year ago, according to FilmL.A. Inc., which handles permits for on-location shoots.

And for the first time in several weeks, the fall-off occurred in all major categories -- commercials, television and feature films.

One sector that looked to be rebounding -- commercials -- saw a 16% drop in production days from Aug. 10 to Aug. 16,  compared with the same week in 2008. (One production day is defined as a single crew's permission to film a single project at a single location during a 24-hour period).

Commercial production had been up for three consecutive weeks, suggesting a recovery was underway. The recession triggered major advertisers like the Big Three auto companies to slash advertising budgets.

With fewer than a dozen movies shooting in Los Angeles, most of them small budget independent features, feature film activity dropped 22% last week compared with an already bleak period a year ago, when production ground to a halt amid a contract dispute between the studios and the Screen Actors Guild.

Television production fell by a similar amount, with the biggest decline in game shows, talk shows and variety programs, according to FilmL.A.  Additionally, while many TV shows, such as "Big Love" and "The Closer" and "CSI: New York"  film locally, more production is occurring on soundstages.

"We're being told by our television industry customers that on-location production is being limited in order to save costs,'' FilmL.A. spokesman Todd Lindgren said.

-- Richard Verrier

Comments

[linda S.]

Hollywood is dead, people should move on. Out of state filming is out of control. "District 9", a very good film was done in South Africa. What does this tell you? Between the WGA and SAG strikes, Hollywood shot itself in the foot. Who needs Hollywood? The Film Capitol of the world is now world wide. Below the line people are finding jobs elsewhere, as well they should because Hollywood, as we use to know it, no longer exists.

[Alex Dorn]

Hollywood is not dead, those writers and directors are working on major productions, they're just working in Canada and other states, it's the below the line workers that live here in LA and spend the most money in our local economy that are getting screwed with this situation.
California should be providing the same rebates that other states do for film production, and we should pass measures that combat Canada's strict protectionist production stances. (They encouraged foreign workers until their talent pool was trained, then they locked everyone out. What about "Free trade"? why cant a US gaffer work on a US production shot in Canada?)
Think about it: There is no more "shovel ready" project than production, it hires thousands of people and comes out of private pockets (the studios). We could work our way out of this recession in LA if everyone just put their heads together and did everything to keep production HERE.

[Natalie DeJohn]

Well that's interesting. I never would have thought of on-location film shoots as something that would decline in this economy. Thanks for the info.