Los Angeles Film and TV Shoot Days Keep Plunging As Local Officials Scramble for a Turnaround Plan

Los Angeles recorded fewer film and television shoot days from June to September, despite California expanding its production tax credit programme. The decline shows the incentives have not yet reversed the region’s wider downturn, as other states and countries compete for productions and local crews and businesses face reduced work.

Shoot days were nearly 5 per cent lower than in the same period last year and 11 per cent below the previous quarter, leaving the total 36 per cent under the five-year average. Television production fell about 3 per cent year on year, including a 9 per cent drop in dramas, while comedy days rose 143 per cent, largely due to subsidised projects. Feature filming edged up 2 per cent, but commercial production, which is ineligible for credits, fell almost 16 per cent; New York’s production spend rose 87 per cent in the quarter, compared with California’s 17 per cent increase.