FilmLA’s end-of-year report on the state of local film and TV production in Hollywood is as dire as expected with a 16% year-over-year decrease in shoot days in Los Angeles County. But data for the final three months of the year shows signs of a rebound in 2026.
In the film office’s latest quarterly report, 4,625 shoot days were recorded in the fourth quarter of 2025, a 5.6% increase in the prior quarter compared to an 18% decrease between the second and third quarter. The recently expanded California production tax credit program played a small role in this increase, as productions that received such incentives accounted for 13% of shoot days recorded this quarter.
Still, even this quarter-to-quarter increase only begins to reverse the steady decline over the past few years. In the fourth quarter of 2024, 5,680 shoot days were recorded, making this past quarter a 21% year-over-year decrease. In total, 19,694 shoot days were recorded in 2025 compared to 23,480 shoot days the prior year.
In all major categories, shooting for 2025 was at least 30% below the five-year average, and in some categories it was far more. The total number of television shoot days, 6,582, was a staggering 50% below the five-year average, a drop fueled primarily by a drop in reality TV shoots to 3,440 shoot days in 2025, down 12% from 2024 and 49.7% below the five-year average.
On the feature side, 473 shoot days were recorded for the quarter — down 19% year-over-year — and 1,999 for the year, 31% below the five-year average. The one bright spot is that more than 17% of shoot days in this category came from incentivized projects, the majority of which were independent productions.
Philip Sokoloski, FilmLA’s VP of integrated communications, called the 2025 numbers “disappointing” but “not unexpected.”
“FilmLA has consistently projected that the full effect of the expanded Film and Television Tax Credit Program would take time to materialize, and although our overall numbers remain low, there are dozens of incentivized projects that have yet to begin filming,” he said. “We were pleased to see that a majority of the incentivized project Shoot Days in the Feature Film Category were for independent films, and we look forward to continuing to support productions of all sizes as they kick off early in the New Year.”
Since California legislators raised the cap of the state’s incentive program from $330 million to $700 million this past July, 118 film and television projects have been approved for the project. The majority of those projects are expected to start shooting in the first half of 2026.
Meanwhile, FilmLA is working to streamline permitting processes and reverse Los Angeles’ growing reputation as, in the words of one producer who spoke to TheWrap last fall, a “hostile place to film.”
Among the new initiatives launched this year is a pilot program for “low-impact permits,” which will minimize the number of city departments that independent productions with small crew sizes and minimal special effect requirements need clearance from to shoot in certain areas.
FilmLA is also expanding its public outreach to local businesses urging them to hold back on demanding “inconvenience fees” from indie productions that shoot on location near their businesses, as such payments to businesses as compensation for real or expected loss of revenue from customers has discouraged many producers from filming in the city.
“Many exciting initiatives are currently in development, and we look forward to seeing film-friendly policies expand throughout the region in the coming months,” FilmLA CEO Denise Gutches said in a statement. “It’s time to bring production back home where it belongs, and put our talented, highly skilled entertainment workforce back to work.”