(Bloomberg) -- Filming in the greater Los Angeles area fell 5% in the third quarter, showing that Hollywood is still struggling to overcome the impact of the pandemic and the actors and writers strikes last year, according to the local permit group FilmLA.
“Only a few months ago, the industry hoped we’d see an overall on-paper gain in the third quarter, due to the strike effect” when most scripted film production had been suspended, FilmLA President Paul Audley said Wednesday in a statement. “Instead, we saw a pullback and loss of forward momentum heading into the fall season that will make or break the year.”
Data from the organization show 5,048 days of shooting in the quarter, which FilmLA characterized as “the weakest so far in 2024, and surprising for its failure to meet or exceed numbers shared at this time a year ago.”
The report echoes comments from film producer Jason Blum earlier in October at the Bloomberg Screentime conference in Los Angeles. The strikes “did a lot of damage” to the business, Blum said. Even if some people ended up being paid more, there are fewer people working, he said. “What they really did is they just made the pie smaller.”
Exacerbating the effects of the strikes, streaming platforms such as Netflix Inc., Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video and Walt Disney Co.’s flagship Disney+ are shifting from focusing solely on subscriber growth to achieving profitability. That means they’re being more discerning about what shows get made, resulting in fewer productions.
The resumption of television and feature films brought some relief to LA-based casts and crews in the third quarter, FilmLA said. Still, the number of shooting days in both categories trail the average workload over the past five years. Meanwhile, unscripted production such as reality TV plunged 56% from the same period last year.
FilmLA said it had recently voiced support for the expansion of California’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program, but also argued it lacked funding and eligibility criteria compared with other states, which can offer greater incentives.
“Just as our competitors continue to innovate, California must do the same,” FilmLA said.
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