Shooting Off Studio Lots Down in April

Shooting of films, TV shows, commercials and music videos on the streets of Los Angeles continued to slide in April compared with a year earlier, when production was in high gear as studios prepared for potential strikes.

The number of shooting permit days granted by the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. fell 11% from a year earlier to 2,622, according to the agency. The biggest drop was in feature film permits, which fell 47% to 694 shooting days.

TV and commercial indicators both rose, with the number of TV permit days rising 23% to 1,299 and commercial days up 16% to 476.

One permit day represents a single day of shooting on a project. The numbers measure shooting only outside studio lots, where permits aren’t required. But the permit figures are considered a barometer of overall local production activity.

The lower film numbers reflect a change from the accelerated production schedules a year ago when studios rushed to finish projects as potential writer and actor strikes loomed.

Although no strikes occurred, production on films has been markedly slow since last summer because studios have a large number of films in the can.