On-location production is still declining in the Los Angeles area, even if California’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program is propping up much of what’s left.
Per the latest report from FilmLA, on-location filming accounted for 4,171 shoot days from July through September 2026, which is a 4.8% decrease from the same period last year. However, the organization also finds that the state’s tax incentive is accounting for about 40.3% of scripted, on-location production during that time — nearly doubling the share from a year ago.
Television is benefitting the most from incentivized productions. Projects that were accepted into the program made up 62% of all TV comedy shoot days and 49.4% of TV drama shoot days (up from 19% and 20.6%, respectively) during the same time last year.
This doesn’t quite tell the full story, since television production, particularly on comedies, often largely takes place on soundstages, which are not captured in this data. Soundstage occupancy also remains far below the levels it once maintained a decade ago.
Incentivized TV series that shot in LA last quarter included A Hundred Percent (Netflix), Baywatch (Fox), Mr & Mrs. Smith (Amazon), Shrinking (Warner Bros. TV/Apple TV+), High Potential (ABC), The Night Agent (Sony Pictures Television/Netflix), Tracker (CBS), I Love LA (HBO), and Rooster (HBO).
Feature films finished the third quarter with 533 shoot days, a marginal 2.1% increase from the same period last year. Incentivized projects account for 24.4% of that total, the majority of which are independent. However, there are a few studio films in the mix including 13 Going on 30 (Netflix), Cut Off (Warner Bros.) and They Follow (Neon).
Commercials marked the largest decline, down 15.9% to on-location 562 shoot days during the third quarter, although those are not covered by California’s tax credit program.
On-location production in Los Angeles has been on a decline for years, and the trend has continued despite California’s massive efforts to expand the state’s tax incentive program last year. Not only did lawmakers raise the cap to $750 million annually, the revamped bill also significantly expanded program eligibility. Granted, this quarter’s decline is smaller than Q2’s 13% slip.