FilmLA reported a near-record year for on-location filming in Los Angeles in 2018, with film, TV drama, and commercial filming all seeing significant year-over-year increases.
On-location filming in the Greater Los Angeles area rose 5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, with 10,359 shoot days logged. In 2018, 38,795 shoot days were logged, a 1.3 percent year-over-year annual rise. Feature film shoots increased 12.2 percent, TV drama shoots increased 10.6 percent, TV pilot shoots increased 15.2 percent production, and commercials went up 8.7 percent.
“2018 concluded a third consecutive year of record-level film and television production for greater Los Angeles, due in no small part to the California Film & TV Tax Credit program,” said FilmLA president, Paul Audley. “The return of jobs and businesses in the film industry is great news for our region and we look forward to a great 2019.”
The one major downside was the decrease in shooting for reality, comedy, and web-based TV, which brought the overall count for television shoot days down 4.9 percent. But some major TV comedies still stayed in Los Angeles, including “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” and “Veep.”
On the film side, L.A. shooting saw a major boost from films like Netflix’s “Bird Box” and Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood.”