Earlier this month, we released our second quarterly production report for 2010, showing a 16 percent increase in local days of permitted on-location production. Driven by production gains in local feature film, commercial, and reality television, a total of 11,134 permitted production days (PPD) were logged between April and June of 2010, compared to just 9,597 PPD for those months in 2009.
As in the prior quarter, the State of California’s Film and Television Tax Credit made an impressive difference for the Features category.
On-location Feature production pulled ahead 11.5 percent in the second quarter, compared to the same period the prior year (1,542 PPD in 2010 vs. 1,383 in 2009). Between April and June 2010, FilmL.A. coordinated permits for 16 state-incentivized Feature projects shooting on-location locally. These projects contributed 423 PPD to Feature category totals to make up 27 percent of the category’s overall yield.
The second quarter of 2010 also saw a surge in the production of Commercials, with year-over-year totals jumping 34.5 percent (1,604 PPD in 2010 vs. 1,193 PPD in 2009). The Commercials category has shown impressive quarterly and year-to-date (YTD) gains over 2009, however the category still trails the levels seen prior to the economic downturn.
Television production managed a second quarter gain of just 1.4 percent (4,052 PPD in 2010 vs. 3,998 PPD in 2009), with TV Dramas dropping precipitously (down 38.2 percent to 755 PPD), while TV Reality surged (up 47.6 percent to 2,016 PPD). TV Sitcoms gained 48.2 percent, and TV Pilots dropped 42.7 percent, though neither category includes very many days of permitted production.
“State and local efforts to facilitate filming continue to bolster regional film production and employment,” said FilmL.A. President Paul Audley. “Angelenos should find it reassuring to see production returning to their city, and with it, more work for their families, friends and neighbors.”