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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Filming Still Down Though Strike is Over

Lingering effects of the Hollywood writers strike resulted in a 23 percent drop in on-location filming for the first quarter of 2008 when compared to a year ago. Hardest hit was television drama and comedy production, according to FilmLA, the not- for-profit agency coordinating permits for on-location filming in the city and county of Los Angeles. The work stoppage by Writers Guild of America members resulted in only 166 on-location permits issued for comedies and 534 permits for dramas. In the first quarter of 2007, the agency issued 602 permits for comedies and 1,661 permits for dramas. Television and film writers began their walkout Nov. 5 after talks with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers failed to result in a new contract. Talks between the two sides sputtered until after the start of the new year when studio heads Peter Chernin and Robert Iger stepped in to work out a deal with the Guild negotiators. The writers returned to work in February, but television production still lagged. For the seven-week period after the strike ended, permit volume for television dramas was 35 percent below 2007 levels. Permits for comedies were down 51 percent. “We predicted it would take some time for television production to get back on its feet after the strike,” said Todd Lindgren, vice president of communications for FilmLA. “Unfortunately we were right. By the end of March permit volumes had not returned to normal.” On-location feature film production was up while permits issued for commercials dropped. The FilmLA numbers are for on-location shoots only and do not include filming taking place on studio soundstages.

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