Reprinted from The Hollywood Reporter by Bryn Elise Sandberg on September 3, 2020.
Los Angeles is beginning to see an uptick in filming.
FilmLA, the organization that doles out permits and tracks shooting in the region, says that it’s finally starting to see a more confident return to production. Its monthly film permit requests have increased nearly 40 percent in August compared to July, with the office averaging around 27 applications per business day.
FilmLA first received the greenlight from local authorities to begin processing film permits on June 15. By June 19, filming activity was underway, though it stayed relatively quiet until recently. In its early August update, the office said that it was fielding about a third of the number of permits it typically would.
Since June, FilmLA has received approximately 1,127 film permit applications from 829 unique projects. After production activity quickly rose in mid-August, overall filming levels have stabilized at around 44 percent of what FilmLA would expect under normal conditions during the summer. …