Written by new-contact on Oct 10, 2013. Posted in On Location

Los Angeles location filming increases nearly 10% in third quarter of 2013

Location filming in Los Angeles increased by nearly 10% in the third quarter of 2013 compared to the same period last year, the city has announced. Feature production rose by nearly 20% between July and September, while commercial filming went up by 18%.

The increase in feature production is likely to have been driven by a surge in low-budget productions, but the figures count the number of permitted production days rather than the scale of the shoots involved. Marvel’s superhero sequel Captain America: The Winter Soldier is among the only big-budget productions to have been based in Los Angeles in recent years.

Television production fell over the three-months period, with sitcom and web-based TV filming affected the worst with declines of around 15% compared to 2012.

“Any increase in local production is cause for celebration, as long as we don’t lose sight of the big picture,” said FilmLA President Paul Audley: “California has yet to match and overcome out-of-state competition for this business. For feature film production to be where it once was and should be in LA, production would need to increase by 125%. Until Sacramento acts to level the playing field, we won’t see the kind of growth and prosperity that California families are counting on.”

For feature film production to be where it once was and should be in LA, production would need to increase by 125%.

Paul Audley, FilmLA

In other words, while the quarterly filming increase is clearly positive, the number of permitted production days was still “thousands” short of California’s filming high-point way back in 1996.

The Mayor of Los Angeles recently appointed former studio executive Tom Sherak as his so-called ‘film czar’, who now has the task of campaigning for sweetened filming incentives for California.