Hollywood production return to pre-pandemic levels

LA County productions reported between April and June constituted the highest production levels since late 2019, FilmLA reports. The figures, reflecting a significant comeback from pandemic-related losses, stand at 9,791 shoot days across all categories during the second quarter of 2021, exactly a year after the industry hit record lows. “By almost any available measure, the second quarter was good for filming in Los Angeles,” Paul Audley, President, FilmLA, said. “With local COVID-19 cases rising it’s not clear whether that will be sustainable, but the industry’s commitment to community, cast, and crew safety remain firmly in place.”

All four categories in the film industry have surged in productivity, including commercials, television features, among other filming types. This year’s figures surpassed 2019’s levels of 9,135 by 7.2% during Q2. This period of filming reflected a 40% increase in shooting days compared to three months ago, from 7,011 SD to 9,791. , Shoot Days for Television were up by an impressive 82.1 percent, followed by Commercials (up 38.5 percent). Trailing behind, however, were the Other category (down 7.7 percent) and Features (down 9.4 percent).

Advertisers constituted much of the increase with commercials spiking to by 55% to 1,544, while the other category rose by 49.7% to 2,510 SD and Television increased by 30.5% to 4,913 SD. Shoot days for TV Dramas (totaling 1,501) were up by 120.7 percent over their five-year quarterly average, and those for TV Reality (totaling 2,447) were up by 189.3 percent. Shoot days for TV Dramas in the second quarter of 2021 were comparable to first-quarter levels (1,459 SD in Q1 vs. 1,501 SD in Q2), however, TV Reality production increased by 61.6 percent over the same period. A total of 19.3% of TV Drama Shoot Days in the second quarter were for California Tax Credit projects.

Television series that shot locally in Q2 include CBS’ Ghosts, the mini-series, "The Dropout" for Hulu, American Crime Story: Impeachment for FX, Animal Kingdom for TNT, the new Starz drama, Gaslit, Star Trek: Picard (CBS All Access), and two new Netflix series, Lincoln Lawyer and Monster. Feature films that shot locally include Netflix’s "Day Shift," "Hollywood Stargirl" for Disney+, "Kimi" for HBO Max. The new Steven Spielberg movie, The Fabelmans, also started shooting last month. A total of 9.3 percent of Feature Shoot Days in the second quarter were for California Tax Credit projects.