Not long ago, each February found the Los Angeles region abuzz with film production activity. New television pilots, produced in anticipation of May screenings for network television advertisers, joined continuing TV series, feature films and commercial projects in competition for talent, crews, stage space and sought-after locations.
But, pilot producers working in L.A. might find that they have their pick of local resources these days.
Earlier this month, FilmL.A. released a 2005-2009 Television Pilot Production Report, a five-year look back at network and cable television pilot production by location. Among the report’s key findings, FilmL.A. observed that the overall number of primetime television pilots produced per season has declined by 17 percent since 2005. At the same time, the number of pilots produced in Los Angeles has fallen nearly 42 percent.
During the 2004/’05 development cycle, L.A. played host to 101 of the 124 pilots produced, claiming 81 percent of the total. Fast forward to ’08/’09 when 59 pilots were lensed in L.A., giving it a 57 percent stake of overall TV pilot production. Forty-two of those pilots were filmed in competing jurisdictions outside the State of California.
Estimated pilot production spending in the L.A. region amounted to $309 million in ’05. That tally fell to $207 million in ’09.
According to the FilmL.A. survey data and the ’09 edition of Entertainment Partners‘ Essential Guide to U.S. and International Production Incentives, some form of production incentive was available in every one of the non-California locations used during the ’08/’09 series development cycle. Domestic locales used by pilot producers included Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. Non-U.S. jurisdictions included multiple Canadian provinces, the Czech Republic and New Zealand.
New York, as one of Los Angeles’ strongest competitors, has claimed between eight and 11 pilots each year, according to FilmL.A. survey data. In the ’08’09 cycle, Canadian provinces emerged as L.A.’s most powerful contender for pilot production business. Fifteen pilot projects filmed in Canada this year–the most produced there in any of the five years FilmL.A. has studied.
The accelerating loss of pilot production to incentive-granting U.S. and foreign jurisdictions is leading some to fear that L.A. has lost its grip on this once-captive facet of the industry.
“We’ve moved past the point where this industry is ours to lose,” said Paul Audley, president of FilmL.A. “It’s now a question of what we’re going to do to get it back.”
FilmL.A. is the nonprofit organization that coordinates permits for filmed entertainment lensed on location in the City of Los Angeles, unincorporated parts of L.A. County and other local jurisdictions.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More