FilmLA, partner film office for the City and County of Los Angeles and other local jurisdictions — today issued an update regarding regional filming activity. On-location production in Greater Los Angeles declined by -13.2 percent from July through September of 2025 compared to the same period the prior year. During this time, FilmLA recorded 4,380 Shoot Days (SD)* across all categories.
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.
The California Film Commission was processing applications days after the state budget was approved and AB 1138 (Zbur/Bryan) was signed into law. The first 22 projects to be approved for the expanded state credit — including 18 television series planned for Greater Los Angeles — have 180 days to start production after their incentive award. In the third quarter, around 22 percent of LA-area Feature production and 9 percent of area Television production came from incentive-linked projects.
“We know that it will take a little while for new incentive-backed projects to get underway and be reflected in our data, so we were not surprised to see on-location production continue to slip this summer despite the state’s increased investment,” observed FilmLA Vice President Philip Sokoloski.
“Fortunately, we’ve already begun to see early signs of these incentives having their desired effect; we’re excited to be taking calls from productions looking to line up their locations and pull permits.”FilmLA Vice President Philip Sokoloski
Slightly bucking the overall summer trend, area Feature production picked up in the third quarter, generating 522 SD, 9.7 percent more than in Q3 2024. Many independent features shot locally during the period, including Animals, Misty Green, The Musical, The Seekers, and You Can’t be Happy.
Meanwhile, FilmLA’s Television category at 1,441 SD declined -20.7 percent in the third quarter. Television remains the region’s core production driver. The decrease in local television production is primarily due to a steep quarterly drop in TV Reality production, which at 649 SD last quarter, retreated sharply from recent spring highs. Reality TV and game show series in LA include Dancing with the Stars (ABC), The Price is Right (CBS), The Valley (Bravo!), Dinner Time Live with David Chang (Netflix) and The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives (Hulu).
TV Dramas (down 19.0 percent to 545 SD), TV Comedy (up 41.1 percent to 79 SD), and TV Pilots (down -34.5 percent to 19 SD) were also in the mix. Locally-filmed television series included 9-1-1 S9 (Fox), Criminal Minds S19 (CBS), High Potential S2 (ABC), Bel-Air S4 (Peacock), Golf S1 (Netflix), and Shrinking S3 (Apple TV+).
Commercial production, which receives no form of business incentive to create production jobs in California, declined -17.9 percent last quarter to 668 SD. Commercials that filmed locally last quarter included retailers like Brooks Brothers, Lululemon, McDonald’s and Walmart, services such as American Express, Covered CA, Door Dash, Spotify, and car companies like BMW, Lexus, Nissan, and Toyota.
FilmLA’s “Other” Category, which collectively includes still photo shoots, student films, documentaries, short films, online content, plus music and industrial videos, achieved 1,749 SD, for a decline of -9.9 percent compared to the same period last year.
The diverse, multi-party coalition of studio and independent filmmakers, entertainment union and guild members, entertainment vendors, business advocates and grassroots activists that supported tax credit expansion now encourage local leaders to improve the local production environment. In Los Angeles and elsewhere, officials are focused on removing real and perceived barriers to production.
“LA’s creative industry is too important to let go without a fight,” Sokoloski summarized. “As part of our ongoing focus on streamlining and enhancing the on-location filmmaking process, we are convening industry listening sessions and using what we learn to improve our service delivery and recommend actionable process and policy improvements to our valued government partners.”
* On-location production figures are based on days of permitted production within the jurisdictions served by FilmLA. One “Shoot Day” (or “SD”) is defined as one crew’s permission to film at one or more defined locations during any 24-hour period.
** FilmLA’s reported five-year average excludes 2020, which due to the significant impact of COVID-19 on production that year, distorts all historical comparisons.
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About FilmlA
FILML.A., INC® is a not-for-profit organization and the official film office of the City and County of Los Angeles, among an ever-increasing roster of local municipalities. Through expedited permit processing, comprehensive community relations, film policy analysis and other services, FilmLA works to streamline and enhance the on-location filmmaking process for communities and content creators, to ensure the Greater Los Angeles economy continues to thrive.
Integral to FilmLA’s work is ongoing research into the benefits that local filming brings to the Los Angeles region. To that end, we maintain an internal research division devoted to the production, collection and dissemination of information regarding the U.S. film production economy and global production trends.
One Comment on “L.A. Area Film Shoot Days Decline in Third Quarter, as New Incentive-Backed Projects Offer Positive Early Signs for Greater L.A. Film Ecosystem”
As a long time vendor to the SoCal Entertainment Industry, I have always been optimistic. However with the statistics stated in the FilmLA report, in my opinion, the dismal results are due to State and Local politician’s actions. Let’s all hope it’s not too late for a faster rebound.