Los Angeles still stars in stage space, but Film LA says growth is outstripped by Toronto, UK and New York

Los Angeles County has more square feet of soundstages than New York and Georgia combined, and more are on the way, according to a recent report from FilmLA, the city-county’s film licensing office.

LA is located 5.4 million square feet above the UK (4.7 million square feet), Toronto and Ontario (3.3 million square feet), British Columbia (2.8 million) and New York ( 2.4 million) and Georgia (2). millions). ).

However, to meet the growing global demand for filming locations for films and TV shows, the expansion of the stage infrastructure in the UK, Toronto and New York has significantly overtaken Los Angeles in recent years. Since 2019, soundstage square footage in Los Angeles has grown by only 4%, in Ontario by 43%, in the UK by 34% and in New York by 33%. According to the report, there was virtually no increase in the square footage of soundstages in Georgia and British Columbia during this period.

Read the full report here.

FilmLA says it is currently monitoring 14 new studio and / or studio expansion projects underway in Greater Los Angeles, including the ongoing expansion of Universal Studios and the CBS Television City lot and planned construction of new sets at Warner. Bros. on the ranch

“If all of these projects are implemented, the number of certified sets in the region will increase by approximately 27% and the square footage by an unknown but significant amount,” says FilmLA.

This expansion receives a lot of help from the California Film and Television Sound Scene Capture Program, which establishes a new 20% or 25% tax credit over the next 10 years for qualified film production. Certified studio construction project. A total of $ 150 million has been set aside for this new loan.

The report notes that planned and proposed study expansions and construction of new studios in Los Angeles County include:

• Universal Studios, which is currently building eight new sound scenes.
• Warner Bros., which is expected to pave the way for 16 new phases in the third quarter of 2023.
• CBS Television City, which is expected to open ground next year in seven new stages, pending city approval.
• Quixote Studios, due to open in June 2022, with five new stages and approximately 98,000 square feet.
• The Sunset Glenoaks, which is currently under construction and will open next year with seven new stages and approximately 126,000 square feet.
• LA North (The View), which opens in the second quarter of 2022, with five new stages and approximately 107,000 square feet.
• LA North (The Vista), also inaugurated in the second quarter of 2022, with two new stages and approximately 46,000 square feet.
• Reframe Studios, construction of which is expected to be completed by mid-2023, with three new stadiums and approximately 65,000 square feet.
• East End Studios (Glendale campus), which was built on two new stages and measures approximately 38,000 square feet.
• East End Studios (Griffith Park Campus), built with eight new stages and 102,000 square feet.
• East End Studios (Glendale campus), also under construction with two new 38,000 square foot stages.
• Echelon Studios, awaiting city council approval for construction to begin next year in five phases on 91,000 square feet.
• 8th and Alameda Studios, awaiting City Council approval to build 17 soundstages.
• Blackhall Studios, pending city council approval to build 19 stages, are estimated at 475,000 square feet.

“If all of these projects are realized,” said FilmLA, “the number of certified sets in the region will increase by approximately 27% and the square footage by an unknown but significant amount.”

The report also discussed the acquisition and use of certified sound scenes in Greater Los Angeles in 2020, marked by three months of unprecedented filming that concluded at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Data from FilmLA’s 13 partner studios, which include six large Hollywood studios and seven major independent operators, show that, despite the pandemic, their employment levels remained stable until 2020. “It turns out that not even a global pandemic will reduce arrests. “Or reduce the demand for audio from filmmakers in the Los Angeles area,” the report said.

These partner studios, which currently control 3.7 million of the estimated 5.4 million square feet of certified panoramic space in Los Angeles County, represent 68% of the total local market.

“In the property surveyed by FilmLA, the average annual arrest rate was 94% higher in 2020, up from 93% in 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the report said. “Although most of the stage operators told FilmLA they had not lost tenants during the closing in the second quarter of 2020, those who suddenly found themselves free also found it easier to attract new customers.”

Other findings in the report include updates on the number of projects shot on stage, broken down by project category, as well as the number of days and days of shooting by stage. (FilmLA defines “shooting day” as the active use of a backstage or soundstage by a single crew for all or part of a 24-hour period.)

“In particular, the total number of projects shot on associated sets decreased by 47% per year (898 shooting days in 2020), while the number of shooting days on the set decreased by 49.7% (+6191 days of filming) in the same period. “, – says the report.” This is also in line with the reduction in on-site production activity previously reported by FilmLA. “In 2020, FilmLA announced that the number of days of filming in loco had decreased by 48% (to 18,993) compared to 2019.

However, the report found that its study partners, who have access, have seen a significantly higher level of use since the pandemic era. “The days of backlot-based filming reported by the research partners fell by only 15% between 2019 and 2020. Many of the studio’s partners said the scenes were overcrowded because many production companies preferred to shoot the scenes on the air. free of charge in a controlled environment whenever possible during a pandemic.

“We anticipated that after returning from an 87-day hiatus from the pandemic in Los Angeles County, we would experience a high level of interest in the scene and use of the set,” said Philip Sokoloski, a spokesperson for FilmLA. “But that doesn’t mean it was easy for our partners to say ‘yes’ to the shoot. As we saw on site, there were new security protocols to be used, the management of parking and people logistics, the challenges of sourcing PPE and managing the new costs. What this data really highlights is the resilience of a united industry to get people back to work.

According to the report, TV series production that met local demand for film and theater permits accounted for 72% of daily and background shooting activity in 2020, up from 62% in 2019. With another. As for face-to-face projects, FilmLA partner studios have announced that by 2020, 307 TV series will be shot in whole or in part. The number of programs was almost equally divided, with 155 one-hour series and 152 half-hour series.