Hollywood production falls below strike levels as reality TV takes massive hit
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Hollywood production was even slower this summer than it was during last year’s strikes because of a staggering decline in reality TV shoots, according to a new report.
Overall production levels were down 5% in the third quarter of 2024 compared with the same stretch in 2023, per data released Wednesday by FilmLA, a nonprofit organization that tracks on-location shoot days in the Greater Los Angeles area. FilmLA logged 5,048 total shoot days from July 1 to Sept. 30, making this the weakest quarter of 2024 so far.
The hardest-hit sector was reality TV, which wasn’t as badly affected by the walkouts because most unscripted projects were not struck; at the same time, scripted production came to a near standstill last summer. During the third quarter of 2024, however, reality TV production plummeted by 56.3% to 946 shoot days compared with the same period in 2023.
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Scripted TV production rose to 758 shoot days by the end of the third quarter while still lagging 55.5% behind the five-year average. Feature film production was up 26.6% from last year with 476 shoot days in the third quarter, which is 48% lower than the five-year average.
Commercial production during the third quarter of 2024, with 814 shoot days logged, was 7.4% higher than last year and 32.6% lower than the five-year average.
All forms of production have been sluggish to rebound amid an ongoing industry contraction that predates the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes.
“Only a few months ago, the industry hoped we’d see an overall on-paper gain in the third quarter, due to the strike effect,” FilmLA President Paul Audley said in a statement. “Instead, we saw a pullback and loss of forward momentum, heading into the fall season that will make or break the year.”