Location Filming in L.A. Up Slightly in 1999

Hollywood production activity outside of studio lots inched upward during 1999 in the Los Angeles area. But feature film and TV activity--the biggest and most lucrative category--fell, largely as a result of continued budget tightening by producers, networks and studios, according to figures released Thursday.

Overall film activity on the streets of Los Angeles was up 1.7% from a year earlier, to 46,410 production days. That is the number of days of shooting devoted to movies, TV shows, commercials, student films, photo shoots, music videos and miscellaneous other activity.

But production days for feature films and television, the two biggest categories, each dropped more than 8%. The decline reflects continued cost cutting by networks and studios that began in earnest in 1998, as companies pushed to fatten profit margins eroded by the high cost of making and marketing movies and shows.

In addition, Hollywood’s unions complain that more films and TV shows are being shot in cheaper foreign locations--especially Canada and Australia--to save money.

The figures were released by the Entertainment Industry Development Corp., the agency that promotes local filming and also issues permits through most of Los Angeles County when crews want to shoot on streets or in public places. Although the agency has jurisdiction over a limited amount of production activity in Southern California, its statistics are considered a good barometer of the Hollywood economy.

For feature films, production days totaled 10,526 last year, down 8.8% from a year earlier. TV production days fell 8.1% to 10,279. The slack was taken up largely by commercials, student films, photo shoots and music videos, statistics show.

Officials with the agency said the numbers for late 1999 were stronger than they were earlier in the year, giving them hope that the drop in activity is bottoming out.

They also noted that TV production is far ahead of what it was in the early 1990s. However, some officials are concerned that production could be disrupted if negotiations this spring between ad agencies and the Screen Actors Guild turn bitter.