LOS ANGELES—Sound stage occupancy in the Greater Los Angeles area declined to 63 percent in 2024, a 6 percent drop from 2023, according to a report released April 3 by Film LA, continuing a trend that officials described as worrisome as the film industry aims to recover from the impacts of COVID-19 and a dual worker strike.
As a result of challenging years, regional sound stage occupancy levels, which previously held in the 90th percentile from 2016 through 2022, declined sharply. In 2023, average regional studio occupancy was 69 percent, falling to 63 percent in 2024.
According to Film LA, a partner film office for the city and county of Los Angeles and other local jurisdictions, data from its latest Sound Stage Production Report illuminated the slowdown of global content.
The Sound Stage Production Report is based on aggregated data from 17 participating studios in the region. Data captures stage and backlot filming data for 2023 and occupancy data for 2024. It also provides a comparison of available stage space in the L.A. region and major competing markets in 2025 and five years earlier.
In 2023, a total of 1,225 projects were filmed in 447 stages included in Film LA’s analysis. Those projects generated 8,671 stage shoot days—fewer than were recorded in any studied period except 2020, during a period when COVID-19 halted all production for a time.
Data also showed that production of television series declined by 10 percent. The latest figures showed that such projects accounted for only 20 percent of all production happening on certified stages and backlots in Los Angeles, but in previous years television series production comprised 30 percent of all stage-based filming.
Philip Sokoloski, spokesperson for Film LA, noted that stage occupancy and stage utilization are not the same.
“A set on a stage can only create jobs when it is under construction or in use. Television budgets have increased, but episode counts have declined and there can be long delays between seasons. To see the real loss of work opportunity in this data, you have to focus on stage shoot days,” Sokoloski said in a statement.
The report noted that lower-than-average sound stage occupancy is a concern for parties outside of California, too.
In the last five years, jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom, New York, Georgia, and Ontario, Canada, have doubled their stage-based production capacity. But the lack of projects makes it harder to fill studio vacancies.
With an estimated 8 million square feet of stage production space in Los Angeles, and 13 planned and proposed studio projects in the pipeline, the same issue will persist. Film LA noted such infrastructure does provide an advantage.
Sokoloski predicted that jurisdictions that perform well from here on out will be ones with sustainable high levels of sound stage occupancy and job creation, which will in turn attract film projects.
“We’re supportive of state leaders’ interest in expanding California’s film incentive program, and we’re engaged in ongoing conversation with city and county partners about ways to improve the local filming environment,” Sokoloski said in a statement.
