L.A. sees 16% drop in film and TV shoot days compared to 2024

by

Film and TV production in Los Angeles continued to struggle in 2025, with shooting days falling by over 16% compared to the year before, a recent report shows.

Filming in the Los Angeles area saw a rebound in 2024, with 23,480 shoot days recorded. This is a significant increase from the 19,694 shoot days in 2023, which was the lowest number since 2020, according to data from the nonprofit organization FilmLA.

Even though California increased funding for its film and TV program last year, it will probably take a while to see those projects reflected in official filming statistics, according to Philip Sokoloski, a spokesperson for FilmLA.

He acknowledged the year-end results were lower than hoped, but said they were anticipated. Despite the overall low numbers, he highlighted that many projects with financial incentives are still set to start filming.

California’s updated film and television incentive program has already attracted over 100 projects. Previously, projects using the older incentive program accounted for roughly 13% of all filming days in the Los Angeles area during the last three months of 2025.

Filming on location dropped by 21.1% in the last three months of the year, totaling 4,625 shoot days compared to the same period in 2024.

Filming activity decreased significantly that quarter, especially in commercials, which fell 23.2% compared to the previous year. Television production dropped by 21.9%, while feature film shooting days were down 19.7%. Other types of filming, including student projects, documentaries, and music videos, also saw a decrease of 20.4%.

Television production experienced a significant drop that quarter, with pilot filming down 62.5% compared to the previous year. Drama production fell by 36.4%, while reality TV and comedy filming decreased by 9.8% and 6% respectively during the last three months of the year.

Read More

2026-01-15 23:31