The newest quarterly report on Los Angeles on-location shooting from FilmLA shows a sharp downturn in shoot days in the final quarter of 2022, raising concern that the local industry is resuming the longterm decline it was undergoing prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As shoots for films, television, commercials and other media resumed in 2021 and 2022, FilmLA reported a rebound in shoot days to pre-pandemic levels that remained consistent through all of last year. But in Q4, 8,674 shoot days were reported, a year-over-year decline of 19.5%.
In total, 36,792 shoot days were reported in 2022, 252 more days than in 2019 but down 2.4% from 2021. It is also 7.2% down from the all-time peak of 39,762 days recorded in 2016.
While the disparity in shoot days in 2021 and 2022 can partially be attributed to pandemic shutdowns creating a backlog of productions from 2020 that were shooting alongside new productions for the year, FilmLA President Paul Audley noted that the number of shoot days in L.A. in the late 2010s had been declining as other states and countries developed their own package of production infrastructure and tax incentives to lure film and TV projects.
“The return of pre-pandemic filming levels places us roughly where we were in 2019, which was itself a year of significant production decline. Can we hold here, or will the pre-COVID downtrend resume? That is the question everyone is asking,” said FilmLA President Paul Audley.
Commercials were the hardest hit category both in Q4 and 2022 as a whole, with FilmLA reporting a year-over-year decline of 33.7% for the quarter while the annual total of 4,119 shoot days sitting 24.5% below the five-year average.
Television saw a smaller year-over-year decline of 9.6% with a quarterly drop of 24.2%. However, the annual total of 16,778 shoot days remains 7.3% above the five-year average. That is thanks in part to the boom in television production created by new streaming services, though it is unclear whether that demand in production will continue moving forward as the streaming boom has worn off amid falling media stocks.
Among the TV dramas that filmed in Los Angeles last quarter were HBO’s “Winning Time,” Peacock’s “Bel-Air,” FX’s “Snowfall” and Fox’s “9-1-1.” Prominent TV comedies include HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and NBC’s “Grand Crew,” while top TV reality and game shows included CBS’ “Let’s Make a Deal” and Bravo’s “Vanderpump Rules.”
On the feature film front, 3,080 shoot days were reported for the year, down 9.6% year-over-year but 24% below the five-year average as more film productions head to places like Georgia, London and Eastern Europe. Among the films that did shoot in Los Angeles this quarter were Netflix’s “Beverly Hills Cop 4” and the independent film “Guns and Moses.”
