Reality TV Filming Plummets in Los Angeles in Major Production Slowdown
Filming for reality television in the Los Angeles area experienced another significant drop in the second quarter of 2024 after a rough start to the year, belying expectations that unscripted production would accelerate amid industry contraction and belt-tightening coming out the strikes.
That’s according to the latest production report from local film office FilmLA, which found that on-location filming of the format from April to June this year fell nearly 57 percent to 868 total shoot days compared to the same period in 2023. In the previous quarter, reality television production was also behind its 2023 levels, down roughly 18 percent to 1,317 shoot days.
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There were a few bright spots during the second quarter: Selling Sunset, John Mulaney Presents: Everybody’s in LA, American Idol, 90 Day Finance, The Golden Bachelorette, The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Accident, Suicide or Murder all shot in the L.A. area during the quarter. Still, the drop in production days for reality TV brought down the report’s entire television category, which has long been an anchor of production in the region and saw an estimated 28 percent decline compared to the same period last year. Notably, the Writers Guild of America strike began in the same period in 2023, deflating scripted production at that time.
“Generally speaking, unscripted television is a location-heavy format that generates significant permit volume,” FilmLA’s vp integrated communications, Philip Sokoloski, said in a statement. “The employment impact of reality production is lower than it is for scripted TV, and projects are not incentive-eligible through the State of California. It remains an important part of L.A.’s production economy.”
The FilmLA production report is the latest diagnostic of an ailing reality television production landscape. Earlier in the year, reality television insiders talked to The Hollywood Reporter about a downturn in the space that has narrowed job availability, tightened budgets and made executives even more cautious about taking risks on new and untested project concepts. The phenomenon has been due, at least in part, to some of the same forces buffeting scripted television — consolidation in the space, the ongoing entertainment business contraction and cost-cutting initiatives at companies, sources said.
Producer Patrick Caligiuri (Naked and Afraid, American Idol) says FilmLA’s data “is not surprising because the numbers are reflecting what everybody in the industry has been feeling over the last year.” Caligiuri rang the alarm bells on the state of reality television in a TikTok post that stated “Reality TV is dead” and took off on LinkedIn earlier this year. He says that the struggle continues for many workers. “No one’s saying they’re making the same rate they were making before. Everybody’s saying at this point, ‘I’m lucky to get a job.’”
Also likely playing a role in the plunge in reality television shooting in the region is that the category doesn’t qualify for tax credits in California, meaning productions take on the full cost of the project without subsidies, whereas other major productions hubs, including Georgia and New Mexico, crafted their programs to make such content eligible.
“Unscripted tends to go to unique locations,” says Joe Chianese, senior vp of Hollywood payroll service company Entertainment Partners. “If you can go to Fiji or wherever and get an incentive, you’re going to go.”
Michelle Van Kempen, the general manager for nonfiction production companies’ trade association NPACT, added in a statement, “The unfortunate reality for unscripted production in California is that, not only is the volume of business down across the industry, but because other states (and countries, for that matter) offer producer-friendly incentives in unscripted, business is increasingly going elsewhere.”
Last month, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill expanding its tax credit program to include game shows, national talk shows and contest-based shows, among other reality television.
California is currently the only major production hub that doesn’t allow above-the-line costs to qualify for incentives. Starting in 2025, however, credits will become refundable for the first time since the program’s creation in 2009.
In total, the three-month period from April to June declined roughly 12 percent compared to the same period last year (5,749 shoot days vs. 6,566) and more than 33 percent compared to the five-year average (this excludes 2020, when production was suspended in Los Angeles County). While the bulk of the dropoff was driven by a plunge in the shooting of reality television, scripted content fared much better relative to the earliest strike-impacted months of 2024. TV drama and comedy production essentially doubled to a combined 885 shoot days (714 and 171 respectively).
Television shows that filmed on location in Los Angeles last quarter included incentive-enrolled projects, such as Forever (Netflix), S.W.A.T. (CBS), Orphan (ABC), Bookie (Max), Suits: LA (NBC) and Shrinking (Apple TV+).
FilmLA’s report is backed by an analysis of soundstage occupancy from January to June 2023, which showed a plunge leading up to last year’s strikes. Occupancy levels hovered at around 90 percent before the work stoppages and never recovered in 2023, with a nearly 20 percent decline in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.
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