While LA has been able to hold onto its top spot among shooting destinations overall, we’ve seen a Quarter 1 fall-off in shoot days. This goes both against last year’s benchmarks as well as the five-year average for the area. Most industry experts pin this to the work-stoppage now expected to be ratified by the WGA. Entertainment attorney with Blake & Wang P.A, Brandon Blake, looks at the news.
Production Decisions in Limbo
While all markets have been hit to some extent, the feature films shoot days have seen the least disruption, and TV shooting the most. Primarily, this is being chalked up to production decisions being put-off until both the recent spate of corporate restructuring and the potential turmoil in labor negotiations is resolved.
While this is the worst to-date, it also continues a pattern where three consecutive quarters have seen a slow down.
24% Decline
For the first quarter of 2023, we see 7,476 shoot days recorded, almost a quarter less than the same period last year. However, due to the stalled production pipeline and lockdowns in the previous year, this was the busiest first quarter on record, with 9,832 shoot days tracked. Of course this surge would fall off as things reach equilibrium.
However, it’s the decline against the five-year average that deserves the most attention. Here, we see TV production fall 24% off the five-year average (which excludes 2020). Worryingly, TV pilots saw the worst decline, at 95% on the five-year average and just 7 shoot days logged. Commercial shoots dropped 32% on the five-year average. TV sitcoms manage to post an increase of 100 days, and feature film production remains flat, but the news is otherwise dull.
This slump could well be why the Film & Television Tax Credit program has been reworked with a specific interest in TV productions. But until there’s better economic and work certainty, we’re unlikely to see real growth return. Let’s hope that turnaround is swift.
