Film production dips

Paul Audley, the recently hired president of FilmLA, says "we should stop talking about 'runaway production.' It's ran-away production." Film shooting dropped 8.1 percent in the fourth quarter and 1.7 percent for the year. TV did much better, increasing 14.4 percent in the quarter and 8.4 percent in 2008. The reality segment did especially well - up 19 percent - but sitcoms were down 25.3 percent and pilots plummeted 40.8 percent (networks bypassed pilot season because of the writers strike). Film has been gradually moving out of L.A., fueled by attractive tax breaks. The 7,043 production days in 2008 are down from the category's peak of 13,980 in 1996. Audley says that California simply "is not competitive in the marketplace." That’s a bit overstated – yes, business has been lost to other locales, but those giveaways often haven’t offset lost tax revenues. That’s bound to become more noticeable now that tax revenues are so hard to come by. Besides, check out the crowd at the Golden Globes the other night – those folks weren’t exactly being bused in from Altoona. From THR:

The FilmLA president also cautioned reading too much good news into the reality-driven climb in TV production. "Reality programming dominates television production, which is the engine of our local entertainment industry," Audley said. "While it's encouraging to see television's overall numbers finishing in positive territory, the less expensive reality productions sustain a smaller work force and deliver fewer economic benefits than feature films and scripted television."