FilmL.A. – the nonprofit organization that coordinates permits for filmed entertainment shot on-location in the City of Los Angeles, unincorporated parts of Los Angeles County and other local jurisdictions – today announced that on-location feature film and commercial production experienced drastic first quarter declines in 2009, while television production soared compared to the strike-embroiled first quarter of 2008.
Total on-location production coordinated by FilmL.A. during the first quarter of 2009 was flat compared to the same period in 2008 – a negligible increase of 0.7 percent. FilmL.A. recorded 11,431 permitted production days (PPD*) in Q1 2009, up from 11,357 PPD in Q1 2008.
However, the overall quarterly results are bolstered by television production, masking the devastation of the feature film industry in the Los Angeles region and the significant challenges facing the commercial industry.
On the heels of the Feature category’s historic lows in 2008, feature film production plummeted even further in the first quarter of 2009. Logging only 903 PPD, the Feature category posted its lowest quarterly tally since tracking began in 1993. As an indicator of the flight of feature films from the L.A. region, student films — at 900 PPD — matched feature film production during the same period.
“Most big-budget feature films are not shot locally, and even independent filmmakers are shooting fewer days in our area,” said FilmL.A. President Paul Audley. “While we applaud Sacramento’s recently-passed film incentive, which should help entice independent filmmakers, the $75 million production budget cap means the more expensive studio films will not qualify for the program, which should be expanded if California is to compete with incentive-rich states that have studio and talent infrastructures of their own.”
Commercial production declined 34.2 percent in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008 (1,266 PPD vs. 1,925). Commercial production, a bellwether of the then-souring economy, had posted weak results early in 2008. In the intervening year, the economy slid into recession, and spending on advertising has been sharply curtailed.
Television production continues to drive the local filmed entertainment industry, constituting more than half of all on-location production coordinated by FilmL.A. Overall on-location television production soared 76.4 percent in the first quarter compared to 2008, a roller-coaster effect attributable to last year’s writers strike, during which scripted programming was virtually non-existent.
“We expected to see huge first quarter gains for TV, since most shows went dark early last year due to the strike. Although the strike was settled in mid-February of 2008, on-location production didn’t ramp back up until the second quarter,” said Audley.
Within TV’s sub-categories, Reality programming dominated with an increase of 68.7 percent (3,407 PPD vs. 2,019). Long the dominant driver of local TV production, Reality has risen to comprise 54.3 percent of all on-location television production.
Dramas saw quarterly gains of 191 percent, a misleading figure, since 1,554 PPD is in-line with prior years’ data. Sitcoms gained 48.8 percent (250 PPD vs. 168), while Pilots, which saw the traditional pilot season wiped out by the 100-day work stoppage early in 2008, improved by 53.6 percent in 2009 (255 PPD vs.166).
About FilmL.A.
Founded in 1995, FilmL.A. is a private, nonprofit organization that coordinates and processes permits for on-location motion picture, television and commercial production under contract to the City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, and the cities of Diamond Bar, Lancaster, Palmdale, South Gate and The City of Industry. Non-municipal clients include the Angeles National Forest, the Los Angeles Unified School District and Burbank Unified School District. Ongoing community relations is a key component of the service FilmL.A. provides. The organization works to strike a balance between the needs and interests of the entertainment industry and the neighborhoods affected by onlocation production. In today’s highly competitive, global entertainment production market, FilmL.A.‘s services help the Los Angeles region retain its status as the entertainment production capital of the world.
* On-location production figures are based on days of permitted production in the jurisdictions served by FilmL.A. A permitted production day (PPD) is defined as one crew’s permission to work at one location on one project during a 24-hour period. The figures account for more than 80 percent of all on-location production in Los Angeles County but do not include production that occurs on certified sound stages or on-location in surrounding jurisdictions. Overall figures include production of feature films, television programs, commercials, documentaries, industrial videos, infomercials, music videos, still photography, student films and miscellaneous production.
