There were few bright spots regarding the health of film production in Los Angeles after FilmLA, which provides on-location film permits in the region, recently released its latest data for 2022 regarding shoots for television, commercials, feature films, and an “other” catch-all category of various production types.

In general, 2022 compared to 2021 fared poorly across the board except for the “other” category which includes still photography, student and short films, music and industrial videos, and documentaries, which were up about 23 percent.

Commercial shoots declined the most, down nearly 23 percent, followed by about 10 percent declines for both feature films and television, the latter being the sector’s largest category.

The report also shows all categories in 2022 were down regarding their five-year averages with the exception of television production.

Most notably commercials and feature films both were down 24 percent when averaging yearly stats from 2018 through 2022.

The end of the year in 2022 was equally bad.

For the 4Q of 2022, which comprises the months of October, November, and December, the industry saw declines compared to the same time in 2021 in every category ranging from down 9 percent for the collective “other” category to commercial shoots, which were down nearly 34 percent.

The latest data was not a surprise for some.

According to David Michael Latt, co-founder of the independent film studio The Asylum, which produces the popular Sharknado film series—there’s “so much more incentive to not shoot in Los Angeles.”

He said it is more cost-effective to shoot in other states with more competitive tax incentives.

“You have New Mexico and Arizona. … Then Georgia has taken away so much from Los Angeles because it’s more cost-effective to shoot there,” Latt said. “Not that you pay people less, but you get money back from [those states] in a more significant way.”

California also has incentives, but they mostly benefit big shows and production companies that are already established there, like Disney and Nickelodeon, he said.

California introduced its first film tax credit program in 2009, in an effort to keep production in the state.

In the most recent budget proposed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, $330 million would again be set aside for such incentives each year starting in the 2025–2026 fiscal year through the 2030–2031 fiscal year.

The Epoch Times reached out to Newsom’s office for comment on FilmLA’s most recent statistics, but did not hear back by press time.

However, not all news out of Hollywood has been bad this month.

In the recently released Otis Report on the Creative Economy—an annual study that looks at how the state’s creative industry contributes to the economy—the entertainment industry did well in terms of creating jobs and better than other creative sectors in recovering from the effects of the pandemic.

For instance, the number of people employed in making movies and videos in Los Angeles County dropped by 13 percent in 2020, but then went up by 19 percent the following year.