FilmLA, partner film office for the City and County of Los Angeles and other local jurisdictions – today updated its annual analysis of U.S.-produced, first-run, English-language film and television projects. FilmLA’s Scripted Content Study focuses on projects distributed and/or released in 2024, to determine the percentage of these releases that were filmed in Los Angeles and in other locales.
In all, FilmLA Research determined that approximately 18.3 percent of all scripted projects released in 2024 were filmed in Los Angeles. Los Angeles captured 18.5 percent of total releases in 2023, and 21.9 percent of total releases in 2022.*
FilmLA’s report underscores the importance of recent actions by California Governor Gavin Newsom and the California State Legislature to strengthen and enhance California’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program. With 120 domestic and international jurisdictions actively competing with California for new film projects — and the jobs and economic benefits they generate — these actions were both timely and essential.
Total releases included in FilmLA’s study declined -13.4 percent in 2024 to 857 projects. The number of Los Angeles made projects declined by -14.2 percent year over year, with the region attracting more projects in some categories (theatrical films and streaming films) and significantly fewer projects in others (broadcast, cable and streaming series), compared to prior study years.
Report authors caution that today’s production landscape likely differs from the outlook presented in the study, since it is common for some time to pass between project production and release. FilmLA’s project count also excludes differentiating factors such as shoot days, series episode count and budget data, that serve to distinguish one type of project from another.
“Ultimately, this study reveals little that California’s creative community does not already understand on a personal level,” observed FilmLA Vice President of Communications Philip Sokoloski. “There are far fewer film projects being made in Los Angeles than there were in the recent past. Expanded options for attracting and retaining film jobs — as enacted this past July — are not only good for California’s economy, they are a critical form of protection for working families.”
The first projects approved under the new California Film & Television Tax Credit Program 4.0 have until January, 2026 to enter production. Because of the way credits are allocated in multiple application rounds throughout the year, the full effect of increased state incentives for California-based production will not be known until later next year.
*The term “Total Releases” is used throughout FilmLA’s Scripted Content Study in reference to all trackable projects that met FilmLA study criteria. See the Appendix for further discussion. Our count is a numeric count of projects that is based on the year of release and not the year of production. This is done, in part, to ensure the sample includes only projects that successfully complete production and achieve distribution.
