Nearly 80 days into a strike with no end in sight and another that just started, film production in Los Angeles has plummeted and will likely keep sinking.
The decline in the second quarter of this year marks the sixth consecutive quarterly production drop, which was aggravated by the ongoing writers strike and doesn’t include titles stalled by the work stoppage from SAG-AFTRA members. Shooting for TV shows, which drives the most filming in the area, saw the steepest dip.
“Greater Los Angeles is the North American epicenter of scripted television production,” FilmLA president Paul Audley said in a statement. “Before long, this sector’s shutdown will be felt in every corner of the regional economy.”
Just one month into the quarter, members of the Writers of Guild of America went on strike for the first time in 15 years. Several productions went on pause due to disruptions of not having showrunners or writers on set as well as union picketing. Filming in Los Angeles and New York was heavily impacted, with writers shutting down the majority of filming in those areas outside of a select few. Now that actors have joined writers, production across the country has come to a halt.
The quarter that started in April and ended in June saw a total of 6,566 shoot days, according to FilmLA. The figure represents a roughly 29 percent decline from the same period last year. At the time, filming in Los Angeles stabilized slightly above pre-pandemic levels after posting three consecutive all-time quarterly records due to a backlog of titles stalled by COVID-19 disruptions.
“The last time production levels were this low, we were in the middle of a global pandemic,” Audley said. “Families and businesses affected then are again being tested today, lending urgency to the moment to sustain creative careers.”
TV production, which was a sustaining force during Los Angeles’ recovery from COVID-related impacts and is a major employment driver in the region, posted 2,630 shoot days — a 36 percent dropoff from the second quarter last year. FilmLA reported that filming for TV dramas is down over 63 percent with just 360 shoot days. TV comedy production fared even worse, dropping nearly 73 percent to 84 shoot days compared to the same period last year. The categories were impacted the most by the WGA strike, according to FilmLA.
Before all scripted TV production went on pause, titles that shot the last quarter included Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), S.W.A.T. (CBS), The Old Man (FX), Good Trouble (Freeform), Interior Chinatown (Hulu) and How to Be a Bookie (HBO Max).
When writers went on strike in 2007, the economic impact of the 100-day work stoppage was roughly $2 billion (or $2.8 billion in 2023 dollars), according to the Milken Institute. That figure is positioned to skyrocket now that productions will be further stalled by the actors strike.
Audley said “much is at stake for WGA and SAG-AFTRA members” as well as the “small business supply chain on which future filming depends.”
Amid the work stoppage, reality TV production rose nearly 25 percent in the second quarter compared to the first. It’s up roughly the same figure over the five-year quarterly average (FilmLA’s reported five-year average excludes 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19 on production that year). Titles that shot in the area include American Idol (ABC), Basketball Wives (VH1), The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (Bravo!), Buying Beverly Hills (Netflix) and Selling Sunset (Netflix).
Even though it isn’t impacted by the writers strike, commercial production continued its decline with an estimated 22 percent dropoff from the same period last year and 861 shoot days. FilmLA reported that the loss of filming of commercials to rival jurisdictions is an ongoing concern. The category is down over 37 percent compared to the five-year quarterly average.
Production for other categories, including still photography, student films, documentaries and music videos, saw a decline of roughly 24 percent, with 2,347 shoot days.
