LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles is seeing TV productions return to the city in large numbers as the COVID-19 pandemic starts to ebb. A new report from FilmLA details that March was one of the busiest months of productions in the Los Angeles region since on-location work restarted last June.
Since June 2020, 6,585 permit applications have been submitted to FilmLA, covering 4,421 projects. March alone had 1,125 applications, an increase of 45% from the 777 that were submitted in February.
In total, from January to March of 2021, there have been 7,011 shooting days in the region, down just 3.3% from the same period last year. Television, though, is a driving force for this resurgence, as TV productions accounted for a total of 3,766 shooting days, a 50.1% increase year-over-year for the first quarter.
Reality TV saw the biggest growth, with productions increasing 96.4% for a total of 1,514 shooting days so far in 2021. TV dramas also came back strong, with 1,459 shooting days, a 64.1% increase year-over-year. A quarter (24.7%) of these TV dramas qualified for the California Film & Television Tax Credit Program. TV comedies were the only television genre to see a decrease in shooting days year-over-year, down about 5% from 2020 for 239 shooting days throughout Q1 2021.
Among some of the shows that returned to production across Los Angeles were “9-1-1: Lone Star,” “Mayans MC,” NCIS: LA” and “Shameless.”
Feature films and commercials both saw less shooting days in Q1 2021 than in 2020, with films down 13.5% and commercials down 18.2%
For more details on the report, visit FilmLA’s website.
