Filming in Los Angeles kept its momentum into the third quarter

On-location filming in the Greater Los Angeles Region continued its late-pandemic momentum into the third quarter, which ran from July 1 through September 30, according to FilmLA’s analysts, who also noted that it was the third strongest quarter seen in 26 years, with a total of 10.127 shoot days. The last time the region saw filming levels this high was in Q4 2018 (with 10.359 shoot days) and Q4 2016 (with 10.170).

Compared against the quarter immediately preceding, Q3 shoot days experienced a slight increase of 3.4% (from 9791 shoot days). Moreover, compared against the same period in the prior year – one still heavily affected by the pandemic and related shutdowns – total production rose 141.2%.

Looking at the major production categories tracked by FilmLA, the pace of Feature Film production quickened the most in Q3 of 2021, growing 33.5% over the second quarter. By the same measure, activity for commercials and television was mostly flat, with less than a one percent difference quarter over quarter.

According to FilmLA, last year’s unusual circumstances continue to require analysts to look for new ways to understand present-day filming levels. Correspondingly, for the first time FilmLA is reporting a new “pre-Covid” average, consisting of a rolling quarterly analysis spanning the years 2016-2019.

Measured against this standard, the television category is in historically good shape, posting the strongest Q3 gains 22.1% above the Q3 pre-Covid average. This trend in also seen in commercials, tracking 15.5% above past figures. Both the feature film and other categories, however, fell short of their pre-Covid average, highlighting the still-uneven nature of the industry’s local recovery.

Closing with a look at the sub-categories of television, the reality TV bested its pre-Covid average by 146.3% last quarter (with 2,825 shoot days), as did TV pilots (growing 56.7%) and TV dramas (growing 8.9%). On the other hand, web-based TV declined by -17.3% and TV comedies fell by -44.9%.

“The biggest takeaway from this report is that the pace of local production continues to increase. The late-pandemic recovery is uneven in some ways, but community receptiveness to filming is steady and the work opportunities are undeniably there,”  commented Paul Audley, President of FilmLA.