FilmLA’s annual production report outlines the impact of Hollywood’s production exodus and industry contract on local production, with the Los Angeles film office reporting just 23,480 shoot days recorded in 2024, the lowest annual total on record outside of the 2020 pandemic.
That total is a 5.6% drop from 2023, a drop that comes in spite of strikes by the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA that shut down productions for a combined 191 days.
There were some noted increases in multiple production categories in the fourth quarter of 2024 with an overall total of 5,860 shoot days recorded, a 6.1% increase from Q4 2023. A bump in shoot days for feature films and TV comedies was largely responsible for the slight rise.
But that bump wasn’t enough to completely make up for a precipitous drop in reality TV shoots, which plummeted 45.9% year-over-year and 43% below the five-year average. With a few exceptions like “Big Brother,” reality TV programming is increasingly moving its shoots outside of Los Angeles to other parts of the country and the world as networks seek tax incentives that are not currently available to the genre under California’s Film and TV tax credit program.
Expanding that tax credit program both in financial scope and in the types of productions that can qualify will be a major part of the budgetary process for state legislators in Sacramento, as they look to give California’s struggling entertainment industry a boost.
But the positive impact of such an expansion on the finances of industry workers in Los Angeles could be significantly lessened by the Los Angeles wildfires, which have destroyed the homes of an untold number of residents and are expected to spike already high living costs as the city’s housing crisis deepens.
“As we await signs of continuing business growth in 2025, it is important we recognize that no aspect of life in Greater Los Angeles is unaffected by recent fire events and the heartbreaking loss of lives, homes, businesses and cherished community spaces. Many who participate in the region’s entertainment economy are directly affected by this tragedy,” said FilmLA President Paul Audley.
