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LA Film Production Sees Boom In 2021

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - FilmLA, a the official film organization of Los Angeles that coordinates the permits for filming in the L.A. area, reported that production has skyrocketed since 2020, up 141%.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is easy to blame, the report states that the third quarter of 2021 (July 1 to September 30) was the third-strongest quarter over the last 26 years, with over 10,000 days of filming recorded in the greater Los Angeles area.

"The biggest takeaway from this report is that the pace of local production continues to increase,'' FilmLA President Paul Audley said. "The late-pandemic recovery is uneven in some ways, but community receptiveness to filming is steady and the work opportunities are undeniably there."

Among new productions that have been filming recently are many Paramount Pictures productions, including: 'Wild Chickens,' 'House Party 2,' 'Me Time,' 'Purple Hearts,' and an untitled Jonah Hill project.

Television numbers also increased over that time, as production in the third quarter saw a 22.1% jump over their pre-COVID average. Commercial production numbers also witnessed a 15.5% jump in the same timeframe.

Reality television saw the most dramatic increase over their pre-COVID numbers, jumping 146.3% in the last quarter with over 2,800 days of filming.

Of the programs that saw production in the third-quarter, many belonged to broadcast television programs like 'Seal Team,' 'NCIS: Los Angeles,' 'This is Us' and 'The Rookie.' Cable and streaming service programs included 'Better Things' from FX, 'The Flight Attendant' from HBO Max, 'Monster' from Netflix and 'Chad' from TBS.

Television commercial numbers remained flat on a quarter-to-quarter basis.

(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)

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