On-location filming in Greater Los Angeles increased 2.4 percent in the first quarter of 2018, according to a FilmL.A. report. In all, 9,724 Shoot Days (SD)* were logged during the period. On-location feature production experienced its first double digit bump since 2015 (4th quarter), up 11.7 percent to 814 SD.

Paul Audley, FilmL.A. president, said that contributing to that growth is the California Tax Credit program. Incentivized projects, brought to Los Angeles by that program, contributed 20 percent, or 161 of the shoot days in the feature category in the first quarter. Incentivized features that filmed in the first quarter of 2018 included Bird Box, Peppermint, The Devil Has a Name, Destroyer and Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel was one of seven films under California’s incentive program with budgets over $100 million and is the first Marvel project to film in the state since Captain America: Winter Soldier in 2014.

Despite a 7.4 percent (3,623 SD) decline in the television category overall, TV pilots saw a 22 percent increase, to 272 SD and TV dramas saw gains of 4.4 percent, to 1,044 SD. Decreases were seen in TV comedy (down 13.0 percent to 529 SD), TV reality (down 20.7 percent to 922 SD) and Web-based TV (down 28.7 percent to 362 SD).

Overall TV production is still tracking 0.4 percent ahead of its 5-year average. Incentivized TV drama projects contributed 50.3 percent, or 525 of the total shoot days in the category in the first quarter. Incentivized TV pilot projects contributed 24 percent or 65 of the total shoot days in the category. Incentivized TV comedy project counts totaled in at 89 SD or 17 percent of the category.
On-location commercials production rose 10 percent in the first quarter of 2018, to 1,633 SD. The category is tracking 10 percent above its 5-year average.

Roswell Project Wraps In Albuquerque
New Mexico Film Office director Nick Maniatis announced that the Untitled Roswell Project, a new pilot for Warner Bros. Television/Palladin Productions LLC, wrapped principal photography in Albuquerque back in March. The production employed 90 New Mexico crew members and approximately 800 New Mexico background talent.

The Untitled Roswell Project is produced by My So-Called Company, Amblin Television and Bender Brown Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television. Carina Adly MacKenzie (The Originals) wrote the pilot script and serves as executive producer along with Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries, The Originals), Justin Falvey (The Americans), Darryl Frank (The Americans), Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction) and Kevin Kelly Brown (Roswell). It is based on the Roswell High book series, written by Melinda Metz.

Starring Jeanine Mason, Nathan Parsons, Michael Vlamis, Lily Cowles, Michael Trevino, Tyler Blackburn and Heather Hemmens, the Untitled Roswell Project is the story of a daughter of immigrants who, after reluctantly returning to her hometown of Roswell, NM, discovers a shocking truth about her teenage crush who is now a police officer: He’s an alien who has kept his unearthly abilities hidden his entire life. She protects his secret as the two reconnect and begin to investigate his origins, but when a violent attack and longstanding government cover-up point to a greater alien presence on Earth, the politics of fear and hatred threaten to expose him and destroy their deepening romance.

Bad Samaritan Shoots In Oregon
Electric Entertainment has wrapped Bad Samaritan starring Kerry Condon, David Tennant and Robert Sheehan, directed by Dean Devlin and written by Brandon Boyce. Bad Samaritan shot in and around Portland, Oregon. City landmarks figure prominently in the film which is about a pair of burglars who stumble upon a woman being held captive in a home they intended to rob.

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