Strike bolsters TV production

That's right, bolsters production. On-location shooting was up almost 13 percent last year, according to FilmLA, with much of the action taking place in the first two quarters when production was stepped up in preparation for a possible writers strike. Stepped-up production also means stepped-up earnings, which is why the economic impact of the strike is relatively muted - no matter what the two sides claim. "The strike actually had a limited downside impact on the year-end production numbers for 2007," FilmL.A. president Steve MacDonald said. It's the ancillary businesses that are probably taking it more on the chin than the immediate show biz workers. But 2008 could be dicier because TV pilots are not being produced (this is normally pilot season) and that's become a lucrative part of the local industry. Of course, there are always the reality shows, which last year jumped 21.2 percent. As a percentage of the overall TV pie, reality TV is nearly 44 percent. From THR:

Although there have been predictions that reality TV would step up to fill the void of the shuttered series and sitcoms, that hasn't yet occurred. Production days for reality shoots in the fourth quarter of last year numbered 2,478, up just marginally over the third quarter's 2,374 and not at the level of the year's first quarter, which saw 2,840 days of reality shoots. Still, on Wednesday, reality was the only game in town, as FilmL.A. issued four permits for reality shoots, while all else was dark.