{"id":99169,"date":"2025-07-28T10:56:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T10:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/99169\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T10:56:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T10:56:13","slug":"film-shoot-days-decline-los-angeles-business-journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/99169\/","title":{"rendered":"Film Shoot Days Decline – Los Angeles Business Journal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Production in Los Angeles continued to lag during the second quarter of 2025, based on new data released this past week, amid a push among city, county and state officials to incentivize major studios and indie artists to return.<\/p>\n

The total number of shoot days for Los Angeles in the second quarter came in at 5,394, down 6.2% from 5,749 the same period a year ago, according to a new report released this past week from the nonprofit organization FilmLA<\/b>, which tracks production in the Los Angeles region.<\/p>\n

Shoot days for film features, TV series, commercials and other creative content picked up slightly compared to the first three months of the year. Another bright spot: TV production jumped 17%.<\/p>\n

Film and television production has taken a huge hit over the last five years. It began with the Covid-19 pandemic, when all production came to halt amid the virus surge. Some TV shows were canceled altogether, and many films were delayed. Then, the industry was on hold again in 2023 due to the Screen Actors Guild-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes. <\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the city was under siege because of both the Pacific Palisades and Eaton Fires, which devastated not only film locations but also cast and crew members lost their homes. Overall production is about 32% below the five-year average. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile there is work ahead to bring Los Angeles-area production back to its full potential, we are optimistic and grounding in a mission to keep production affordable, accessible and straightforward,\u201d said Paul Audley<\/b>, president of FilmLA, which has called for a \u201cvast expansion\u201d of the state\u2019s tax credit program since October.<\/p>\n

\"\"Paul Audley of FilmLA.<\/p>\n

The latest production figures come at a time when Los Angeles County and California state legislators have pushed measures to bolster a central business for the city and state. That includes the unanimous vote by the County Board of Supervisors in mid-July on a measure aimed to streamline the process of filming locally.<\/p>\n

Late last month, California legislators also passed a huge expansion of the state\u2019s tax credit for film and television production.<\/p>\n

All of these measures are a step in the right direction, said Audley.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great time for the city, the county and the state to really focus on this industry that has really struggled,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, for the past few years, film and television studios have moved production out of Los Angeles for myriad reasons \u2013 mostly due to the financial incentives offered by other states and countries and rising costs in California. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been competing with 120 other jurisdictions around the country and in the world that are offering money to take the business away,\u201d Audley said. \u201cThe tax credit program, and whatever changes that the city and county make, should have a very positive impact and getting people back to work in L.A.\u201d<\/p>\n

Introduced by County Supervisors Kathryn Barger<\/b> and Lindsey Horvath<\/b> \u2013 whose districts combine to include Hollywood, Burbank and all of the traditional filming areas in Central L.A. and the San Fernando Valley \u2013 the new motion sought to cut the bureaucratic red tape for filmmakers. The board approved a host of measures including a review of the permitting process, how productions work with the county department like parks and recreation, and it also called for exploring a one-year moratorium on fees charged at the county level.<\/p>\n

They also moved to explore new production facilities and partnering with funders to launch a public-private fund, known as the Evergreen Fund<\/b>, with between $80 million and $100 million to support film tech start-ups.<\/p>\n

In May, Mayor Karen Bass<\/b> issued an executive order aimed at making it easier for studios and independent filmmakers to get their projects off the ground. The order lowered fees for filming at iconic locations like the Port of Los Angeles and the Griffith Observatory. Bass also called for a reduction in the number of city staffers on shoot locations.
\u201cThe city is taking bold action to support our legacy industry,\u201d Bass said in a statement. <\/p>\n

The mayor cited a measure approved by the City Council and introduced by City Councilman Adrin Nazarian in April, which directed\u00a0 the city\u2019s chief legislative analyst and all relevant city departments to review everything from\u00a0 fee structures to certifying new sound stages.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeeping entertainment production in L.A. means keeping good paying jobs in L.A., and that\u2019s what we are fighting for,\u201d said Bass.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

On a state level, Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/b> signed legislation in June that would double the film and TV tax incentive to $750 million, up from $330 million, in an effort to compete with other such tax credits in states like Georgia, New Jersey, Louisiana and New York \u2013 as well as international competitors like Canada and Ireland. <\/p>\n

The legislation, known as AB1138, boosted the available credit amount for an individual project from 20% to 35%. It also raised the per-production incentive cap from $100 million to $120 million and tripled total program funding for independent films from $26 million to $75 million. Film tax credits are also now refundable in California, beginning with the 2025-26 fiscal year.<\/p>\n

\u201cCalifornia is where filmed entertainment was born, and with this expansion, we\u2019re making sure it stays here,\u201d said Newsom in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just investing in productions and soundstages-we\u2019re investing in middle-class careers, small business, and the communities that power this iconic industry,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

In light of the boost in tax credits, the California Film Commission announced that it will provide incentives to 48 upcoming film projects for both major studios and independent films. The projects are estimated to generate \u201c$664 million in economic activity and employ over 6,500 cast and crew\u201d in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis industry is core to California\u2019s creative economy and keeping production here at home is more important than ever,\u201d said Colleen Bell<\/b>, director of the California Film Commission, in a statement.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cThis round of tax credits shows our commitment to supporting both indie and studio productions while spreading the economic benefits of filming across the state,\u201d Bell said.<\/p>\n

\"\"A professional digital cinema camera, on a film set. (Photo c\/o iStock)<\/p>\n

The response to the county\u2019s latest measure has been met with cheers \u2013 particularly from those who work locally in the industry. Some workers shared their views at the board of supervisors hearing held on July 15. <\/p>\n

One commenter said: \u201cthe film industry is so important to the economic health of all of L.A. County. We desperately need to make film permitting more streamlined, (and) when production stays in L.A., the entire city benefits \u2013 cast and crew aren\u2019t staying in another state\u2019s hotels, eating at their restaurants, fueling their tourism, they\u2019re continuing to contribute to our local economy, not someone else\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Production in Los Angeles continued to lag during the second quarter of 2025, based on new data released…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":99170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,64903,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-99169","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-filmla","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114930501869080779","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}