FilmLA, partner film office for the City and County of Los Angeles and other local jurisdictions, reports that the conclusion of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA work actions on September 27 and November 9, respectively, came too late for production to pick up by year’s end. 

Local on-location filming declined steeply in the fourth quarter, with 5,520 shoot days (SD) logged for a 36.4 percent decline against the same period in 2022. Viewed on an annual basis, summing four consecutive quarters of double-digit decline, production activity fell 32.4 percent year-over-year in 2023, to 24,873 SD.

“History offers no point of comparison to the present,” observed FilmLA president Paul Audley. “The pandemic year aside, we have to look very far back--farther back than permit records allow--to find a time when production levels stayed so low, for so long.”

“Everyone we are speaking to is eager to see production resume,” Audley added, “Even as it does, we’ll remain in uncharted territory. We have months to go before we can describe what the new normal looks like for filming in L.A.”

After the near immediate return of some programming, including late night talk shows, in October, many hoped scripted television might return before the holidays. Once able to resume filming in November, only a handful of continuing series attempted new episodes. That left television production down 54.3 percent to 1,707 SD for the quarter, and down 43.8 percent to 9,430 SD for the year.

Most television production that has taken place since May came from reality series. The reality TV category was down 29.2 percent in the fourth quarter to 1,425 SD and down 28.1 percent to 7,221 SD for the year. Nonetheless, reality TV comprised 76.5 percent of all on-location television production in 2023. Local reality productions included Dancing with the Stars (ABC), Death in the Dorms (Hulu), Master Chef (Fox), Selling Sunset (Netflix) and Murder in the Heartland (Investigation Discovery).

TV drama production dropped 91.3 percent from October through December (101 SD in 2023 vs. 1,155 SD in 2022), and TV comedy production dropped 85.6 percent (51 SD vs. 353 SD). During that time, projects qualifying for the California Film & Television Tax Credit Program logged 25 SD. Dozens more qualified projects are expected to restart in January. The shows quickest to return to production included Loot (Apple TV+), The Family Business (BET+), Quantum Leap (NBC), The Rookie (ABC), S.W.A.T. (CBS), and Unstable (Netflix).

Feature film production also dropped steeply last quarter, with a 57.5 percent decrease to 323 SD. Most feature projects in production this summer were smaller, independent productions, among a few moving forward under SAG-AFTRA interim agreements. Three independent features in production last quarter were associated with the California Film & Television Tax Credit Program; the films Hurricana, Shell and Starstruck together generated a total of 28 SD.

Unaffected by the strikes but trending lower due to runway production, filming for web and television commercials slipped last quarter with a 9.9 percent year-over-year drop to 746 SD. Commercials made in L.A. included automobile ads for BMW, Chevy, Honda, Lincoln, Nissan and Toyota. Retailers such as Best Buy, Walmart and Walgreens also shot spots locally.

FilmLA’s “other” category, which aggregates smaller, lower-cost shoots such as still photography, student films, documentaries, music and industrial videos and other projects, declined 18.1 percent (to 2,744 SD) for the quarter and 20.7 percent (to
10,157 SD) for the year.