FilmLA, partner film office for the City and County of Los Angeles and other local jurisdictions – published new data tracking sound
stage-based film production in Greater Los Angeles.
The seventh edition of FilmLA’s 'Sound Stage Production Report' is based on aggregated data sourced from 17 participating studios in Greater Los Angeles. Combined, these studios own and/or operate approximately 82 percent of L.A.’s certified stage market. The report includes detailed sound stage occupancy and stage and backlot filming data for all of 2023, new sound stage occupancy data for all of 2024, and a comparison of available stage space in Greater Los Angeles and major competing markets in 2025 and five years earlier.
Disrupted by a reduction in global content production and the double industry strikes of 2023, the past two years have been challenging for L.A. area sound stage operators. Regional sound stage occupancy levels, which had on average held in the 90th percentile from 2016 through 2022, declined sharply after that year. In 2023, average regional studio occupancy declined to 69 percent. It weakened further over the ensuing twelve months, declining to 63 percent in 2024.
While the combined effects of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes are easily seen in FilmLA’s new occupancy data, global content contraction is illuminated by the overall content mix reflected in project counts and Stage Shoot Days (SSD). In 2023, a total of 1,225 projects filmed in the 477 stages included in FilmLA’s analysis. These projects generated 8,671 SSD – fewer than were recorded in any studied period except 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic halted all production for a time.
A closer examination reveals that episodic television series account for only 20 percent of all production happening on certified stages and backlots in L.A. These particularly high-value, job producing forms of production comprised 30 percent of all stage-based filming in previous years.
“It’s important to note that stage occupancy and stage utilization are not exactly the same,” noted FilmLA spokesperson Philip Sokoloski. “A set on a stage can only create jobs when it is under construction or in use. Television budgets have increased, but episode counts have declined and there can be long delays between seasons. To see the real loss of work opportunity in this data, you have to focus on Stage Shoot Days.”
Lower than average sound stage occupancy is a concern shared outside California. Modern, amenity rich sound stages and proximate support services are an attractive lure for film producers. Competing jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, New York, Georgia and Ontario, Canada, have all more than doubled their stage-based production capacity over the last five years. Los Angeles, with an estimated 8.0 million square feet of stage production space and 13 planned and proposed studio projects in the pipeline, maintains an important infrastructure advantage. Unfortunately for all involved, fewer film, television and commercial projects in production makes it harder to fill studio vacancies.
“The jurisdictions that perform well from here on out – the ones with sustainably high levels of sound stage occupancy and job creation – will be those invested in film project attraction at the country, state and regional level,” Sokoloski predicted. “We’re supportive of state leaders’ interest in expanding California’s film incentive program, and we’re engaged in ongoing conversation with City and County partners about ways to improve the local filming environment.”
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