Los Angeles filming activity down 10% year on year in Q3

Los Angeles has experienced a decline in shoot days for the third quarter of 2022 compared with last year and the previous quarter, according to latest figures from FilmLA.

The total number of shoot days was 9,066 for the third quarter (1 July to 30 September), down 10.5% from the same period last year and -1.7% from the previous quarter this year (9,220).

Feature films ended the quarter with 828 SD, compared to 1,100 in Q3 2021. Local productions included Barbie (Warner Bros.), Beverly Hills Cop (Netflix), Destroy All Neighbors (Shudder), Fast X (Universal Pictures) and Young. Wild. Free. (Confluential Films). 

Commercial production activity in the region continued to decline with a total of 1,021 SDs this quarter, compared to 1,533 last year.

Television activity generally was down by -10.5% compared to the same period in 2021, but remained 4.7% above the five-year average. For the first time since the pandemic recovery began in Q2 2021, TV drama activity declined by -11.7% year on year (1,198 SD in Q3 2022 vs.1,356 SD in 2021) and -5.5% compared to the five-year average. Local TV dramas include 9-1-1 (Fox), American Gigolo (Showtime), Barry (HBO), Bel-Air (Peacock), Bosch Legacy (Amazon).

“We’re seeing an expected slowdown taking shape,” noted FilmLA president Paul Audley. “To that point we note that the COVID-19 Delta wave forced an out of season production shift last year. That shift led to record-breaking filming levels in the latter half of 2021, so in light of that, this is a modest decline.”

Hollywood studios and unions recently extended the return to work production agreement struck during the pandemic.