On Location: Local production up as TV networks gear up for fall

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Local production around the Los Angeles area in film, commercials and television increased 25% last week compared with the same period a year ago, according to the latest numbers from FilmL.A., Inc. Production was also up 15% last week from the previous week (ending July 17).

Television production alone generated 330 production days (one production day is defined as a single crew’s permission to film at a single location in a 24-hour period), the most television production recorded days in a week since May. Network television shows typically ratchet up production this time of year as the fall season approaches.

‘Generally, network episodic television wraps in late February to late March,’ according to FilmL.A., Inc. spokesman Todd Lindgren. ‘Pilot production is heaviest in March and April. A hiatus usually takes place from late April through the first week of July.” Principal photography for network shows usually begins “within a couple of weeks.”

The number of production days for feature films was also up, 183 days last week compared with 165 a year ago, an 11% increase. Included in that figure is the feature film ‘Savages,’ directed by Oliver Stone, which began shooting in the Los Angeles area last week. The crime thriller about two Laguna Beach marijuana growers who run afoul of a Mexican drug cartel stars Aaron Johnson, ‘Gossip Girl’s’ Blake Lively and Taylor Kitsch of ‘Friday Night Lights’ as well as Benicio Del Toro, Salma Hayek and John Travolta.

Production days for commercials also increased, up 21% last week compared with the same period last year, to 104 production days.

For more on what’s filming this week, see the map below.

Sample of neighborhoods with permitted TV, film and commercial shoots scheduled this week. Permits are subject to last-minute changes. Sources: FilmL.A. Inc., cities of Beverly Hills, Santa Clarita and Pasadena.

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-- Thomas Suh Lauder