HOLLYWOOD -- Local feature production remained steady during December as off-lot activity in Los Angeles rose 23% from the same period of 2001.
Permitted days for features totaled 530, well above the monthly figures during the eight-month slump between July 2001 and February 2002, according to numbers released Tuesday by the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. Features lensing locally include "Helldorado," "SWAT," "The Whole 10 Yards" and the untitled John Hamburg project.
EIDC veep Darryl Seif noted December is traditionally a light month for filming and added that indicators show strong performance so far in 2003.
Production roller coaster
Local feature production activity plunged in the second half of 2001 and in early 2002 after spiking during the first half of 2001 over fears that actors and writers would strike. December's feature film activity boosted the 2002 total to 8,024, but that remained 14% behind the total for 2001, when activity topped 1,000 days in every month from January to June.
Hollywood's off-lot activity for TV during last month totaled 812 days, off 10% from December 2001. TV activity spiked in 2002 and was 19% ahead of 2001, fueled partly by expanded demand for cable programming.
Commercials activity remained depressed at 463 days for December, well below the peak of 810 days it reached in January 2001; production has exceeded 600 days in a month only three times since then.
Barely up from '01
Overall December activity -- which includes TV, commercials, photo shoots and musicvideos -- totaled 2,816 permitted days, off 4.7 from December 2001. The 12-month total was 44,415, up 1% over 2001.
The EIDC has come under scrutiny due to a criminal investigation into alleged misuse of public funds by prexy Cody Cluff, who departed from the post two days before Christmas.
Contact Dave McNary at
dave.mcnary@variety.com