Hollywood’s production levels this summer were even worse than last year, when workers were on strike
The labor contraction in Los Angeles continues.
Last summer, Hollywood productions were shuttered as tens of thousands of writers and actors went on strike.
This summer, Hollywood production levels were even worse.
The third quarter was film and TV’s worst of the year in Los Angeles, with total shoot days falling 5% from last year’s levels according to the city and county film-permitting office FilmLA. The region’s 5,048 total shoot days across film, television, and commercials were 36% below the five-year average.
Reality TV continued its free fall, down 56% from last year, when studios relied on the largely nonunion format to fill their libraries. Film and commercial shoot days both rose from last summer, but each category came in double-digits below their medium-term averages. Film shoots were down 48% from their five-year average and commercials down 33%.
The numbers are bleak, but they fit a trend of Hollywood’s contraction that saw original US scripted shows plunge 14% last year (and they’re projected to fall further). Coming in below last year’s third quarter is only further proof for the argument that the pullback’s cause is more deeply rooted than strike or pandemic aftershocks.
“Only a few months ago, the industry hoped we’d see an overall on-paper gain in the third quarter, due to the strike effect,” FilmLA President Paul Audley said in a statement. “Instead, we saw a pullback and loss of forward momentum, heading into the fall season that will make or break the year.”
Writers, actors, producers, and execs have told Sherwood that there are fewer buyers, shorter windows for buying, and a prevalent overall message from studios and streamers that “we aren’t interested.”
For LA specifically, some of the decline likely has to do with productions moving elsewhere to capitalize on tax breaks. Earlier this month, FilmLA called for a “vast expansion” to California’s tax-credit program. California spends $330 million per year to subsidize films and television created in-state, less than half of New York’s budget. Georgia, meanwhile, has no upper cap on its subsidy.
