Los Angeles is beginning to see the impact of California’s expansion of its film and television support program, with productions in the region trending upward.
After shooting levels bottomed out last year, Los Angeles saw a nearly 10 percent increase in shooting days to start 2026 compared to the three-month period from October to December, according to the latest report from the FilmLA permitting office. Features saw a significant rise in production, recording a 52 percent increase year-on-year. Nearly a quarter of all photography in this category came from addresses that receive tax credits for filming in the state.
However, production levels follow historical norms. Shooting days in the first quarter (5,121) were approximately 30 percent below the five-year average. At the current rate of filming, Los Angeles will see the lowest levels of filming observed by the Film Office outside of last year. The numbers show a spiraling decline in production over the past decade, with filming in the region falling sharply in 2023 following Hollywood’s historic double whammy that immediately followed belt-tightening by studios as they navigated the profitability of their streaming businesses.
With filming in Los Angeles on the decline, California last year passed major revisions to its film and TV tax credit program, which is seeing an increase in applications from productions looking for subsidies. The first titles selected to receive incentives after these changes were made are now shooting, with these projects accounting for approximately seven percent of all shooting days in Los Angeles, and accounting for 22 percent and 17 percent of total feature and television production, respectively.
“Hollywood has finally crossed a new stage with more productions and more jobs,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement.
The economics of filming in California, and Los Angeles specifically, are tough. It’s not one thing. Other regions have more generous subsidies – many giving projects tax breaks for top talent – on top of allowing productions to save a significant portion of labor costs. That’s among the reasons features have fled the state for other countries, primarily the United Kingdom, where workers generally earn lower wages and studios haven’t had to cover health insurance for years.
But in what may emerge as a new trend in regional production, films have seen a significant rise in filming levels. This category recorded an increase of more than 20 percent compared to the five-year average with 687 days of shooting. Nearly 22 percent of all shootings went to state incentive titles, including Giant! (Scout pictures), One attempt left (Netflix) and Night surveillance (Amazon MGM Studios).
Television – which has long been a source of production in the region – fared much worse, registering a 28 percent decline quarter-on-quarter. Even more alarming is that shooting days (1,196) lag behind the five-year average by more than 60 percent. Reality TV shooting continues to decline, with the category down 52 percent compared to the three-month period from October to December. The trend can likely be attributed to those shows being filmed elsewhere and the general contraction of unscripted content, which has seen US premieres fall by a third since 2022, according to a study by research group Luminate.
“While it is still too early to make forecasts for the coming months, the increase in shooting days we are seeing in key categories gives hope for a broader increase in production activity and indicates the growing impact of California’s film and television tax program on local job creation,” said FilmLA CEO Dennis Goetches.
