L.A. Sound Stages Nearly 100% Occupied In 2016, Says New FilmLA Report

CBS/FilmL.A.

Television production in Los Angeles was booming in 2016 and filling up sound stages across the region, according to a new report issued today by FilmLA.

Partnering with the Walt Disney Company, Paramount, Warner Bros, Fox, Sony, Universal and six other facilities, the on-location film permitting office’s inaugural Sound Stage Production Report claims that there was a 96% average occupancy rate in the region last year. As the state’s now $330 million film and TV tax incentives program is in its third year, the bulk of those tenants are from the small screen’s one hour series.

Now, while the occupancy rate smells of roses, the report actually looked at just over 60% of the 334 certified sound stages that were in and around LA County last year. Working with their studio partners and Raleigh Studios, MBS Media Campus, Sunset Gower Studios, LA Center Studios, Occidental and the soon to be Amazon filled Culver Studios, the FilmLA report focused on 232 Tinseltown venues. Also, it should be noted that with the likes of Netflix, Amazon and numerous features sometimes renting spaces to hold them for production, occupancy doesn’t always mean actual filming is happening on that paid for day.

Still, the sample group for this first trumpeting analysis had a total of 3,3 million square feet of production space. “The average size of the 232 partner studio sound stages was 14,230 square feet, with the largest stage in the sample sized at 41,985 square feet and the smallest at just over 1,000 square feet,” says the report.

With that mind, as the chart below from today’s report displays, there were a “total of 9,610 stage shoot days and 2,241 backlot shoot days were recorded for the year,” says FilmLA, “with most dedicated to the production of one-hour series (4,983 shoot days), half-hour series (3,340 shoot days) and talk TV shows (1,560 days).”

“These findings are significant, in that they reveal a portion of the Los Angeles production picture that has until now gone unviewed,” FilmL.A chief Paul Audley said Thursday of what is set to be a bi-annual study. “We hope that the availability of this data, and our plans to expand it through new studio partnerships, will be an asset to business leaders and policymakers, and further public understanding of L.A.’s signature industry and the wide employment and economic benefits it brings.”

Well, though the math of the report might be a bit subjective right now, everyone can agree on that last point.