Location Production Down in February

Film, television and commercial production on the streets of Los Angeles County declined 29% in February compared with the same month a year ago, according to the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. The EIDC tracks permits issued for shooting on location--not production on studio lots or in sound stages, which do not require permits.

During the first half of 2001, studios and networks ramped up production to build a backlog of movies and scripts because of threatened strikes by writers and actors. After more than six months of a production drought there are some signs of an uptick.

The 408 days spent shooting feature films in February represents a 59% increase over the 256 days film crews worked in January. Meanwhile, production of commercials rose 11% in February to 625 days, up from January’s 562 days of production. Television shooting dipped 8% to 977 days in February, down from 1,062 days in January. Music-video production filled 89 days in February, down from January’s 106 days of production.

Meg James