School might have been out for summer, but thanks to steady filmmaker interest in area school properties, recent months were hot ones for filming on campus.
FilmL.A.’s first and largest educational client, LAUSD, recently witnessed a year-over-year increase of 103 percent in revenue and 28 percent in signed rental contracts from the beginning of June through the end of September.
The increase in filming revenue for the period — from $476K in 2008 to $965K in 2009 — is driven by summertime ease of access to school properties, as well as by complimentary storylines and school principals’ willingness to make their properties more available to filmmakers. A recent Company Town blog entry from The L.A. Times highlighted several of the District’s most sought-after properties, as well as a few others taking guest roles as stand-ins.
“Our educational clients have clearly communicated their desire for more filming, and we are working to accommodate that,” observed FilmL.A. schools expert Patricia Edgar. “In each of the five school districts we serve, we’re promoting individual properties for filming and parking on a customer-by-customer and permit-by-permit basis.”
The above chart represents LAUSD gross filming revenues by month, as measured in thousands of dollars, June through September. 2008 data appears in blue and 2009 data in green.