State Incentives Help Drive Increase in Location Filming

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Television and commercial production contributed to increased on-location filming in the third quarter, according to a report released Tuesday by FilmL.A.

The Hollywood nonprofit, which handles film permits in the city and unincorporated county, reported 9,510 shoot days from July through September compared to 9,162 in the same period a year earlier, an increase of 3.8 percent.

For the nine month period, however, on-location filming was down 0.4 percent from the same period a year ago with 27,613 shoot days.

FilmL.A. statistics track on-location filming, not work on studio lots or soundstages. A “shoot day,” is defined as one crew’s permission to film at one or more locations during a 24‐hour period.

Commercial filming was up 11 percent to 1,278 shoot days compared with 1,151 shoot days from the same period a year earlier. Television filming increased 11.6 percent to 4,308 shoot days.

FilmL.A. President Paul Audley credited the state’s film and television production tax credit program with boosting the television on-location filming. Shows receiving tax credits this year began filming during the third quarter.

“We were predicting increases in the scripted television segment, and it appears those predictions are coming true,” he said in a statement.

Incentive-qualifying one-hour dramas made up about 21 percent of television shoot days, while half-hour sitcoms receiving tax credits made up 8.6 percent.

Feature film production fell in the third quarter after making modest gains in the second. The category tallied 1,146 shoot days compared to 1,288 in the same period a year earlier, a drop of 11 percent.

FilmL.A. is projecting an increase in on-location feature film production during the fourth quarter as projects that received tax credits begin filming.

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