Production in the Greater Los Angeles area fell 5% during the third quarter of 2024 to 5,048 total shoot days — the weakest quarter of the year thus far and a 36.4% decrease from its five-year average, according to a FilmLA update released Wednesday.
“Only a few months ago, the industry hoped we’d see an overall on-paper gain in the third quarter, due to the strike effect,” FilmLA president Paul Audley said in a statement. “Instead, we saw a pullback and loss of forward momentum heading into the fall season that will make or break the year.”
A shoot day is defined as one crew’s permission to film at one or more defined locations during any 24-hour period. The five-year statistics exclude 2020, when Hollywood production was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Scripted television logged 758 shoot days during the quarter across dramas, comedies and pilots, though the rates of change in these categories are made meaningless by last year’s strike-related shutdowns.
Meanwhile, feature film production, some of which continued during the strikes, grew 26.6% last quarter to 476 shoot days, bringing some relief to L.A.-based cast and crew, local studio operators and industry vendors.
For every category of scripted production tracked by FilmLA, current levels trail their adjusted five-year averages on both a per-quarter and a year-to-date basis.
Unscripted production has also been taking a hit, with reality TV falling 56.3% to 946 shoot days. The drop is so steep that it more than accounts for the entire loss seen in aggregate across all filming categories (5,311 shoot days in Q3 2023 vs. 5,048 in Q3 2024).
TV and web-based commercial production rose 7.4% last quarter to 814 shoot days. While it was the first time commercial production grew year over year in any quarter since 2022, levels still trail their five-year adjusted averages for the period and year-to-date (brands featured in recent commercials included Adobe, Amazon, AMEX, Google, L’Oreal, Microsoft, Sketchers, Starbucks, Subway and The Farmer’s Dog).
Elsewhere, FilmLA’s “Other” category, which aggregates smaller, lower-cost shoots such as still photography, student films, documentaries, music and industrial videos and other projects, declined 0.6% (to 1,941 shoot days) for the quarter.
The latest quarterly production figures come as FilmLA has called for more support for California’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program, which offers a tax credit of 20-30% for productions that film in the state and spend a minimum of $1 million, with an annual funding cap of $330 million.
Over the past three years, California has lost market share to the United Kingdom, Ontario, New York, Georgia and other locations, going from a nearly 23% capture of qualified projects in 2021 to an 18% share by 2023. Alternative locales have notably launched their own tax incentive programs to woo productions away from the Golden State.
This summer, several series were filming their first seasons in Greater Los Angeles because they qualified for the state filming incentive, including “Forever,” “High Potential,” “Matlock” and “Orphan.” They were joined by the longer-running incentivized series “Paradise City,” “S.W.A.T.” and “The Rookie.” Nearly a quarter (24.4%), or 164 TV drama shoot days, in the third quarter came from incentive-linked projects.
“California’s film incentive is a proven jobs creator that studies show provides a net positive return on every allocated dollar,” Audley added. “What the program lacks is funding and eligibility criteria that reflect the outputs of the industry in 2024. The program’s structure and management through the California Film Commission — these are excellent. But just as our competitors continue to innovate, California must do the same.”
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