Location filming in the city of L.A.’s portion of the San Fernando Valley increased by 21 percent in the third quarter, according to FilmL.A. Inc. The Valley saw 2,469 shoot days for the July-September period, compared with 2,039 in the same period a year earlier. The current quarterly figure for the region represents 26 percent of all permits coordinated for the city by FilmL.A., a Hollywood-based nonprofit. The organization handles permits for location filming of TV series, feature films, commercials, Web and music videos, and student projects – but not work on studio lots or soundstages. A “shoot day” is one crew’s permission to film at one or more locations during a 24-hour period. Television was the category with the most location filming in the Valley, with 1,337 shoot days during the third quarter, a 35 percent increase from a year ago. Feature films contributed 298 shoot days while commercials had 239. Breaking down the TV category, reality programming had the largest number of shoot days, 475, followed by sitcoms, 437. One-hour dramas had 299, a 10 percent decline from a year ago. Phil Sokoloski, vice president of integrated communications for FilmL.A., said the drop in drama filming in the Valley was indicative of choices by location managers and not reflective of the category’s strength. Gary Onyshko, chief executive of film and TV location service firm Real to Reel Inc. in Van Nuys, has marketed a number of buildings in the Valley for location filming, including the former Nestle USA factory in Chatsworth and former Sunkist Growers headquarters in Sherman Oaks. The Nestle building, now owned by a Chinese food company, has proveproved popular because it still has industrial equipment inside, which is not common in the city, Onyshko said. – Mark R. Madler