Q3 Report: Location filming in LA is still on the upswing

Good news for those Altadeneans concerned about runaway film production: on-location filming in the LA remains on a solidly upward trend. More production is staying local.

According to FilmLA, Q3 location filming is up 3% from the same period last year. The Q3 results are similar to Q2 results. There were nearly 10,000 shoot days in greater Los Angeles. (The actual number will be higher since FilmLA does not provide filming permits for all parts of LA County.)

FilmLA report on total shoot days in Q3 2016

Here's a comparison of the data with the same quarter last year:

• There were 57 fewer feature shoot days (i.e. movies)
• There were 33 fewer commercial shoot days
• 115 more TV shoot days
• 118 more 'other' shoot days (e.g. web productions)

That's a total bump of 133 total shoot days since last year.

Note: It appears that there's a problem with FilmLA's arithmatic. Their total 9,795 is 142 days higher than the sum of the reported individual totals for features, commercials, TV and 'other.'


If you're wondering why the good news,  look no farther than the California's Film and Television Tax Credit Program.  Back in 2009, the Legislature passed the "Film and Television Tax Credit Program 1.0" in order to reverse the trend of runaway production. The program started to take effect in 2010. In 2104 the Legislature passed "Film and Television Tax Credit Program 2.0" a new version with a bigger pot: $300M+ in tax credits per year for the film industry.

The new numbers are especially interesting when compared to Q3 2010.

FilmLA data (see page after p.23)

In case you're arithmetically challenged like me (or FilmLA), here's a handy table that should make the comparison between Q3 2010 to Q3 2016 easy.

	Q3 2016	Q3 2010	Change
Features	1,089	1,001	+88
TV	4,423	2,595	+1,828
Commercials	1,245	854	+391
Other	2,896	1,953	+943
Total	9,653	6,403	+3,250

That's an increase in shoot days of nearly 50% in 6 years. Clearly the tax credit program is working. Of course the boon in production could be affected by other influences like the on-going SAG/AFTRA strike against video game producers. Meanwhile the film production biz is thriving in our area.

Ironically, this success provides a challenge for the agencies like FilmLA and the California Film Commission who are obliged to declaim the success of the program while doing some convincing hand wringing or run the risk of losing the government subsidies. It must be a precarious balance.   Unless of course film industry corporations would wield some political influence that might help tilt the scales.... nah.