Filming of scripted TV shows on location is delayed to near halt in Los Angeles – Deadline

Rosie Cordero

Filming of scripted television shows in Los Angeles has come to a near complete halt in the fourth week of the Writers Guild strike, according to data compiled by FilmLA, the city and county movie permitting office.

“In a typical week at this time of year, there will be dozens of scripted TV projects in production,” said Philip Sokolowski, a FilmLA spokesperson. “By contrast, we only have one TV series with a permit this week, and it is for parking near a theater or studio. Under the circumstances, the presence of that permit is not a reliable indicator that filming will occur.”

In the week ending May 28, the number of permits granted to film and TV projects decreased by 62.8% – to 128 this week compared to 344 in the same period last year. “These are the categories that all written projects fall into,” Sokolowski said, “although not all production within these categories is affected by labor action.” “Reality TV, for example, is still shown on these counts as well as non-union independent films,” she said, not affected by the strike.

Last week, location shooting was down 51.5% from a year ago, with only five scripted TV shows receiving clearances, and three of those projects reported in the news have stopped production.

In the previous week, location shooting was down 69.5% from a year ago, with only seven scripted TV series withdrawing permits, and four of those projects reportedly halted production.

In the first week of the strike, on-location filming was down 51% from a year ago, with nine scripted TV series — seven dramas and two comedies — receiving permits to shoot on location here, despite two such projects being reported. Production stopped.

The strike shows no signs of abating, with production of TV shows shut down across the country.

The WGA launched its strike on May 2 after negotiations with the Motion Picture and Television Producers Alliance failed to reach a satisfactory agreement. The union’s core issues include significant increases in compensation, minimum staff, tenure of hire, creation of scenes-based broadcast leftovers and limitations on the use of artificial intelligence to create scripts.