New York-based Guava has hired 3D animator Steve Talkowski as its director of animation. Talkowski brings over a decade of experience as an animator to Guava, most recently with New York’s Hornet, where he also served as animation director…Absolute Post Production in London reported that Chris Allen–previously senior producer at London’s Moving Picture Company–will join Absolute in January as executive producer…. New York-based design/post boutique Perception has added Curt Neumann as art director. Neumann joins Perception after having worked with the company as a freelance designer for the past year on projects for Bravo!, AMC, ABC Sports and ESPN….Burbank-based post house FotoKem has signed an agreement with Sohonet, the London-based provider of private network services for film and television, to establish a Point of Presence (POP) on FotoKem’s Burbank campus. Sohonet’s dedicated high-speed network will allow the rapid exchange of media data between FotoKem and major production centers worldwide. Sohonet maintains a high bandwidth transoceanic connection between the London Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) and points in Rome, New York, Los Angeles, Sydney and Wellington, NZ. The network provides scaleable bandwidth, currently up to one Gigabit/sec, for the transfer of digital media of all types such as film dailies, visual effects files, audio, uncompressed 2k or 4k files or any digital media. Sohonet currently provides point-to-point connections to more than 150 clients worldwide, including London’s Shepperton and Pinewood studios.
L.A. Location Lensing Declines In 2024 Despite Uptick In 4th Quarter
FilmLA, partner film office for the City and County of Los Angeles and other local jurisdictions, has issued an update regarding regional filming activity. Overall production in Greater Los Angeles increased 6.2 percent from October through December 2024 to 5,860 Shoot Days (SD) according to FilmLA’s latest report. Most production types tracked by FilmLA achieved gains in the fourth quarter, except for reality TV, which instead logged its ninth consecutive quarter of year-over-year decline.
The lift across all remaining categories came too late to rescue 2024 from the combined effects of runaway production, industry contraction and slower-than-hoped-for post- strike recovery. With just 23,480 SD filmed on-location in L.A. in 2024, overall annual production finished the year 5.6 percent below the prior year. That made 2024 the second least productive year observed by FilmLA; only 2020, disrupted by the global COVID-19 pandemic, saw lower levels of filming in area communities.
The continuing decline of reality TV production in Los Angeles was among the most disappointing developments of 2024. Down 45.7 percent for the fourth quarter (to 774 SD), the category also finished the year down 45.9 percent (to 3,905 SD), which placed
it 43.1 percent below its five-year category average.
The two brightest spots in FilmLA’s latest report appeared in the feature film and television drama categories. Feature film production increased 82.4 percent in the fourth quarter to 589 SD, a gain analysts attribute to independent film activity. The
California Film & Television Tax Credit Program also played a part, driving 19.2 percent of quarterly category activity. Overall, annual Feature production was up 18.8 percent in 2024, though the... Read More