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PILOT LOCATIONS: Los Angeles Makes Drama Rebound, New York Gains In Comedy, New Orleans Hot

By NELLIE ANDREEVA | Tuesday April 23, 2013 @ 7:10am PDTTags: Big Deals TV, FilmLA, TV Pilots
Nellie Andreeva

Following several years of declines in the number of drama pilots shot in Los Angeles, the City of Angels staged a comeback this season with 14, reclaiming the top spot as the most popular drama pilot destination after falling for the first time to No. 3 last year behind New York and Vancouver. Los Angeles benefited from the increased overall pilot volume this season, housing 13 of this year’s 48 hourlong pilots, up from 8 (out of 41) last year and 11 (out of 42) the year before, and just short of the 2010 haul of 14 pilots (out of 43).

New York, fresh off luring back The Tonight Show, has become a comedy pilot magnet. The Big Apple already has solid comedy credentials on the cable side with FX’s Louie and HBO’s Girls, but I can’t think of any major half-hour broadcast pilot shot in New York since NBC’s 30 Rock, which just ended its seven-season run. This year, there were a whopping five (all single-camera): NBC’s Michael J. Fox project, which has straight-to-series order, and Assistance; CBS’ Jim Gaffigan and untitled Rottenberg & Zuritzsky project; and Fox’s Us And Them. In some cases, the choice of location was dictated by talent (like Fox). In others, the producers felt it was hard to fake New York or the East Coast in Los Angeles, where virtually all comedy broadcast series have been filming. The 2010 New York filming tax program, which already led to the explosion of NY drama pilot production from zero pilots in 2010 to 11 last year, is helping rein in production costs, which are still higher than a Los Angeles-based half-hour pilot but not by as much as before. With the comedy boon, New York managed to post a new record of 13 pilots, though the number of dramas slipped from 11 to eight. READ MORE »

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LA Production Sees Double Digit Rise Over Q1 2012: FilmLA

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Wednesday April 10, 2013 @ 12:01am PDTTags: California Film Commission, FilmLA

After years of decline and a few small rises, production is strongly up in LA according to FilmLA. In its 1st Quarter report, the non-profit permitting group says overall production in LA County rose by 17.6% over the … Read More »

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Georgia Studio Project, NY Bid To Lure ‘Tonight Show’ Spotlight LA’s Competition

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Saturday March 23, 2013 @ 11:57am PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Film Tax Credit Incentives, FilmLA, Medient, Production Tax Incentives, The Tonight Show

Ross Lincoln is a Deadline contributor.

Medient Studios, a Los Angeles-based production and distribution outfit with a presence in India, has announced plans to build a $90 million movie studio near Savannah, GA in a deal cleared this week by the Effingham County Industrial Development Authority. Although the deal may end up being good for Georgia, it comes during a precarious time for the Los Angeles-based entertainment economy — even with large-scale expansions underway at NBC Universal, Disney, and Paramount.

Related: NY State Tax Break Tailored For ‘Tonight Show’s Return To NYC

Despite an overall increase in movie, TV and commercial production, Los Angeles saw a steep drop in television drama and reality TV production in 2012, a problem the city has attempted to address at least partially by eliminating fees for pilot production. And places like New York, Louisiana, and Michigan as well as Georgia continue to pursue production business aggressively.

Related: Post Production Work In New York Rises From Higher Tax Breaks

“Of course, we’d prefer these kinds of investments be made in the State of California instead of in Georgia,” FilmLA VP of Integrated Communications Philllip Sokoloski told Deadline. “Although the L.A. region has its own studio developments in progress, infrastructure development elsewhere can only intensify the competition we face for valuable film projects and jobs.” Read More »

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LA City Council Waives TV Pilot Fees To Grow Local Production

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Tuesday February 26, 2013 @ 3:07pm PSTTags: FilmLA, Los Angeles City Council, TV Pilots

The Los Angeles City Council today unanimously passed a measure eliminating fees that TV pilots pay to film in the city. The politicians also passed a measure to waive similar fees for the first year for any LA-filmed pilot that is picked up to series. Proposed last year by councilman and Hollywood-friendly mayoral candidate Eric Garcetti, the measures are designed to stop the siphoning of production and jobs from LA to other cities and regions. Permitting organization FilmLA says 92 pilots were produced in LA last year out of a total of 152. Read More »

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FilmLA Hires Former Cox Exec To Spearhead Lobbying Efforts

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Wednesday February 13, 2013 @ 9:32am PSTTags: FilmLA

FilmLA said today that it has brought on board a former Cox Communications executive and Hermosa Beach mayor to lead its advocacy and government relations efforts. Art Yoon joins LA’s location permitting nonprofit in the newly … Read More »

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LA Production Sees Small Rise In 2012 Despite TV Drama Drop: FilmLA

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Tuesday January 8, 2013 @ 2:05pm PSTTags: California Film Commission, FilmLA

2012 was a rollercoaster of a year for production in Los Angeles County, said FilmLA today. In its end of year report, the non-profit permitting group noted that while overall on-location production in LA County rose a meager 1.7% from 2011, TV Drama fell a harsh 20% from the year before. FilmLA’s data comes from filming permits for shooting on streets, non-certified sound stages and in unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. With the likes of the upcoming LA-set Gangster Squad actually filming in LA, 2012 Feature production saw a slight 3.7% rise over 2011 with 5,892 PPD as compared to the 5,682 of the year before. That is actually the best year since 2008 before the state passed the California Film & TV Tax Credit Program, which now hands out up to $100 million a year in a lottery system. On the flipside, the drop in Drama-permitted days and the 11.8% slide in the TV Reality category pulled overall TV production in the region down 3.4% with 16,762 permitted days in 2012 compared to the 17,349 PPD in 2011. However, TV Sitcom filming was up 52.9% with 2,048 PPD compared to 2011’s 1,339 PPD. TV Pilots were up 2.2% from 2011. Commercials rose 14.1% in 2012 over the year before. Read More »

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Feature Film Production Dives In LA County, While Webisodes & Sitcoms Up Big: FilmLA

By DOMINIC PATTEN | Tuesday October 2, 2012 @ 1:23pm PDTTags: FilmLA

FilmLAThe non-profit permitting group said today that overall on-location production in LA County slipped 3.9% from the same quarter last year. A big part of that fall is from on-location feature film production dipping 21.1% for the quarter. That’s in stark contrast to the rise film production had during 2012’s first and second quarters. Those periods saw features up 16% and 9%, respectively. While features fell, two categories jumped up significantly: The relatively new category of webisodes was up 148% over the same period last year. Now making up 9% of annual TV production in LA, webisodes saw 423 permitted production days for the quarter. TV sitcoms, which make up around 11% of TV production, were also up, rising 47.6% from the same quarter last year to 608 permitted days.

Related: Governor OKs $100M Film-TV Tax Credit Until 2017; Is It Enough To Keep Up With Rival States? Read More »

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LA Pilot Production Nears Record High For 2012 Despite Drama Exodus: FilmLA

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday June 12, 2012 @ 4:15pm PDTTags: FilmLA, TV Pilots

The report released today from nonprofit FilmLA shows that 152 broadcast and cable pilots were produced during the 2011-2012 development cycle, the second most productive year ever. Of those, 92 were filmed in the LA area, the second-biggest total in … Read More »

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L.A. On-Location Shooting Up (A Bit) In 2Q

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday July 5, 2011 @ 3:46pm PDTTags: FilmLA, Los Angeles

On-location filming in Los Angeles grew 1.1% during the second quarter compared with last year, held down in part by a sharp drop in commercials production following a 21-month surge in the category. FilmLA said in its report that TV … Read More »

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On-Location Shooting Up In LA, But Not Because Of Film & TV Categories

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday April 5, 2011 @ 6:11pm PDTTags: FilmLA, Movies, Production, Television

Shooting-permit organization FilmL.A. said today that on-location filming in all production categories increased 4.7% during the first quarter of 2011, the fifth consecutive quarter of gains in the region that includes the City of Los Angeles, parts of unincorporated Los Angeles County and other local jurisdictions. Still, feature film shoots … Read More »

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