Film entertainment production in the Los Angeles area declined one percent in 2007, according to a report released Friday by Film L.A. Inc.

Film production in the region was down for the ninth time in the last 11 years, said Film L.A., a nonprofit corporation that acts as a link between producers and local government agencies in issuing permits for film shoots.

"The 2007 data is in line with the decade-long downward trend in local feature film production that has occurred as other locales lure production with attractive economic incentives," said Steve MacDonald, president of Film L.A. Inc.

The film office said it arranged for 54,871 on-location production days last year, compared to 55,399 in 2006. A production day is defined as one crew member working at one location during a 24-hour period.

Feature film production in the Greater Los Angeles area continued its downward trend last year, dropping 6.4 percent to 8,247 permit days, compared to 8,813 in 2006, according to Film L.A.

Commercial production also dropped last year -- by 0.2 percent -- following a slide of 3.4 percent in 2006.

But on-location television production increased 12.9 percent for a total of 23,315 permit days. Most of those permits were issued during the first two quarters of the year in anticipation of the writers' strike, which began in November and caused studios to shut down production on most television programs.

Production on reality TV programs also increased, accounting for 43.7 percent of the permits issued for television.

"The surge we saw in TV production during the early part of 2007 was consistent with other periods preceding labor contract negotiations," MacDonald said.

"When the Writers Guild strike began on Nov. 5, completed scripts for many series were already in the production pipeline, and the holiday hiatus was not far off. Therefore, the strike actually had a limited downside impact on the year-end production numbers for 2007."

The downward trend will likely continue this year because of the writers' strike, according to MacDonald.

(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2008)