While film production fell across the Greater Los Angeles Area in 2025, the final three months offered a glimmer of growth with on-location production activity increasing by 5.6% compared to the prior quarter, officials announced Thursday.
FilmLA, the official film office for the city and county of Los Angeles, and surrounding jurisdictions, released its latest data on regional filming activity for the fourth quarter of 2025, covering October through December. The expanded California Film and TV Tax Credit Program provided a boost in production in the final quarter.
On-location production activity for the fourth quarter totaled 4,625 shoot days, a 5.6% increase compared to the third quarter with 4,380 shoot days.
Overall, 2025 finished with an annual total of 19,694 shoot days, a 16.1% decrease below 2024, which had a total of 23,480 shoot days.
“While the year-end numbers are disappointing, they are not unexpected,” FilmLA VP of Integrated Communications Philip Sokoloski said in a statement.
California’s expanded film tax credit program needs time before major improvements materialize, according to FilmLA. The organization remains optimistic that the trend will change as dozens of incentivized projects have yet to begin filming.
“We were pleased to see that a majority of the incentivized project shoots days in the feature film category were for independent films, and we look forward to continuing to support productions of all sizes as they kick off early in the New Year,” Sokoloski said in his statement.
In June 2025, state leaders approved the expanded tax credits for film and television production. Since then, 119 projects have been awarded incentives, driving more production throughout California.
The most recent allocation round — held in early December — awarded credits to 28 film projects, many of which will be made in Los Angeles County, according to FilmLA. All approved productions have 180 days to start production after receiving their award.
Incentivized projects accounted for approximately 13% of all film and TV shoot days in the fourth quarter.
“Many exciting initiatives are currently in development, and we look forward to seeing film-friendly policies expand throughout the region in the coming months,” FilmLA CEO Denise Gutches said in a statement. “It’s time to bring production back home where it belongs, and put our talented, highly skilled entertainment workforce back to work.”
In the feature film category, shoot days declined by 19.7% year-over-year from 589 to 473. More than 17% of all shoot days in this category went to incentivized projects, the majority were independent films.
In the television category, shoot days declined by 21.9% year-over-year from 1,596 to 1,247.
Television dramas experienced a decline of 36.4% year-over-year with shoot days down from 528 to 336. Shows that shot on-location in L.A. involved “The Rookie S8” (ABC), “The Comeback S3” (HBO), “The Land S1” (Hulu) and “Monster S4” (Netflix).
TV comedies decreased by 6% year-over-year with shoot days down from 117 to 110. Shows such as “Bad Monkey S2” (Apple TV+), “Hacks S5” (HBO Max) and “Running Point S2” (Netflix) shot on-location in L.A. Nearly 32% of the 110 shoot days in this category were for incentivized projects.
FilmLA noted that the California Film Commission recently expanded tax incentive eligibility for non-relocating television series and minimum episode lengths of 20 minutes, which officials say will have a positive impact moving forward.
In the reality television category, shoot days declined year-over-year by 9.8% from 774 to 698. Long-standing series such as “Dancing with the Stars” (ABC) and “Price is Right” (CBS) kept the category afloat, as well as newer shows such as “Dinner Time Live with David Chang” (Netflix), “Love Island: Beyond the Villa” (Peacock) and “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” (Hulu).
Commercial productions in the Greater L.A. Area also remained in a downward trend, as these projects are not eligible for tax incentives, according to FilmLA.
Shoot days in this category fell by 23.2% year-over-year from 763 to 586. Companies that did film commercials in L.A. in the final quarter include Chevrolet, Nissan, Toyota, Anthem, Bank of America, FedEx, Microsoft and Ring.
Lastly, in the “other” category — which consists of still photos, student films, documentaries, short films, online content, and music and industrial videos — shoot days declined by 20.4% year-over-year from 2,912 to 2,319.