Filming in Los Angeles is continuing to slide despite California’s urgent bid to revive production in the region.
L.A. saw a nearly 5 percent drop in shoot days from June to September compared to the same period last year and an 11 percent drop compared to the previous quarter, according to the latest report from permitting office FilmLA issued on Wednesday. The total is 36 percent below the five-year average, highlighting the fierce competition between states and other countries to host Hollywood.
The decline comes despite California’s expansion of its film and television tax credit last year, which increased the program’s annual funding from $330 million to $750 million and broadened eligibility to additional types of productions. Projects getting subsidies to shoot in the state accounted for a record 40 percent of on-location filming in L.A.. Since July 2025, 214 projects have been tapped to receive tax incentives under the expanded program, according to the commission.
While the credits are luring individual productions to California — like Tracker, which moved from Canada to L.A. for its fourth season — the latest figures suggest that it hasn’t reversed the region’s production downturn.
“Overall production remains far below where Los Angeles needs it to be, and crews and businesses across the region are feeling it,” said FilmLA CEO Denise Gutches.
Shooting for TV shows, a key source of work for L.A. crews, recorded 1,400 shoot days in the quarter, down roughly three percent from a year earlier. Drama production fell nine percent, to 494 shoot days, even as the number of days logged by dramas getting incentives more than doubled. Comedy production rose sharply, increasing 143 percent to 192 shoot days, with nearly all of the growth coming from productions receiving tax credits. Shows that filmed in the region last quarter include, Shrinking (Warner Bros. TV/Apple TV+), High Potential (ABC) and I Love LA (HBO).
Filming for features also showed a slight uptick, rising two percent year-over-year to 530 shoot days. But commercial production, which isn’t eligible for tax incentives, fell almost 16 percent. The category is more than 41 percent below its five-year average.
In a statement, L.A. mayor Karen Bass said the region is “seeing encouraging signs of progress” but that “we must do more.”
“That’s why I’m calling for an uncapped California film and television tax credit that includes more types of productions, along with passing into law our nation’s first federal film and television tax credit,” she added.
As California loosens its grip as the filming capital of the world, New York is drawing big-name titles at a much faster pace, according to industry tracker ProdPro’s quarterly snapshot released last week. The state saw a 87 percent increase in production spend in the quarter compared with California’s 17 percent uptick.
Next up: Will California ever change its program to allow above-the-line costs to qualify for subsidies, like the majority of regions that offer tax credits?