Film and television production in the greater Los Angeles area fell 14.2% in 2024 from the year before according to the latest Scripted Content Study by FilmLA.
That’s an improvement from a 20% plunge in 2023, with both years disrupted by dual Hollywood strikes. Between 2023 and 2024, total U.S. scripted project releases declined by 13.4% (990 to 857 projects). In L.A., they fell 31% (to 157 from 228) and market share dipped to 18% from 22%.
The latest numbers hit amid an assist from the State of California through an expanded Film and Television Tax Credit Program passed earlier this year that increased the annual pot available to $750 million and expanded eligible categories.
The third annual study (read it here), again analyzes the filming locations used for scripted, U.S.-produced, first-run, English-language film and television projects distributed and/or released in 2024 and specifically the city and county of L.A.
Examining all scripted television projects, total project releases fell by 15% (365 to 310 series) between 2023 and 2024. But, for the second consecutive year, theatrical release movies increased by 13% percent (199 to 225).
The number of streaming movies released declined by 3.5% (142 to 137). TV movies released plunged nearly 35% between 2023 and 2024 (284 to 185).
Comparing the proportion of scripted releases filmed in Los Angeles between 2023 and 2024, Los Angeles fell from 183 to 157. The scripted television series category declined by 27% percent in Los Angeles (compared to 15% percent for the total).
However, Los Angeles saw a significantly higher proportion of locally made theatrical releases (21 vs. 25) and streaming movies (17 vs. 29) in 2024 vs 2023. In all, FilmLA Research determined that approximately 18.3% of all scripted projects released in 2024 filmed in Los Angeles — a year-over-year difference of less than 1% from 2023.
L.A. was the top jurisdiction for U.S. distributed scripted TV series (streaming, cable and broadcast) with a 27% share followed by the UK, Georgia, British Columbia, New York, Ontario, Illinois, France, Italy, Mexico, New Mexico, New Jersey, Texas and Utah.
It also topped for feature films distributed with NY, UK, Georgia, New Jersey, Utah, Australia, Hungary, California and Ontario.
L.A. led in distributed movies on streaming. It was followed by British Columbia for Original TV Movies Distributed across broadcast and cable.
The report is to quantify the amount of scripted content released each year, and to further determine the percentage of these releases that are filmed in Los Angeles and in other locales. Our count is a numeric count of projects that is based on the year of release and not the year of production. scripted television series into three subcategories – streaming, cable, and broadcast – and examines three categories of feature films – TV movies, theatrical release movies and streaming movies.