Los Angeles On-Location Filming Rises 3% in Third Quarter
By Dave McNary
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Citing the state’s production incentives, on-location filming in Los Angeles rose 3% in the third quarter, a FilmL.A. report released Tuesday showed.
Feature film activity jumped 11.9% to 1,301 shooting days, gaining for the third consecutive quarter, and television production gained 1.8% to 4,095.
Incentivized projects brought to Los Angeles by the California Film & Television Tax Credit Program contributed 15.1%, or 197 shooting days, and included Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” starring Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio; “Against All Enemies”; and “Birdbox.”
“We are grateful for the continued positive impact of the California Film Tax Credit program as it continues to boost employment and production in Greater Los Angeles,” said FilmL.A. president Paul Audley. “Increases in feature film, commercials, TV Pilot and TV Drama production are very good news for the region’s economy.”
TV dramas surged 21.6% for the quarter with incentivized series including “American Princess” and Netflix’s “Lucifer.” TV comedies were down 3% with “Good Girls” shooting as an incentivized program.
The report by FilmL.A., which works to streamline the permitting process and campaigns for incentives, comes three months after California Gov. Jerry Brown signed an extension of California’s production tax credit program for five years beyond its 2020 expiration with $1.6 billion in credits.
The program, which allocates as much as 25% of the budget to credits, was more than tripled in size in 2014 to $330 million annually to compete effectively with incentives in New York and Georgia. The program is overseen by the California Film Commission, which selects the TV and movie projects to qualify partly based on the number of jobs created.
The commission announced on July 23 that Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn spinoff, “Birds of Prey,” would receive a $12.6 million tax credit for filming in California. “Birds of Prey,” a Warner Bros. movie, received the largest allocation of 19 films totaling $52.2 million.
