Shooting of TV Ads Still Down as Strike Continues

The shooting of commercials on the streets of Los Angeles County continued to drop sharply in July as a result of the strike by actors against the advertising industry, statistics show.

The number of production days devoted to shooting commercials outside studio lots dropped 66% in July to 190 from 558 in July 1999, according to the Entertainment Industry Development Corp., which issues permits throughout most of Los Angeles County.

So far this year, the number of production days for commercials is off 13% from a year earlier to 3,588, with many of the commercial shoots moving to other areas of the country or to Canada to avoid picketing. Officials with the EIDC said they believe the numbers reflect the drop in local activity overall, even though some producers shooting commercials have been known to apply for permits under the pretense of shooting music videos to keep from being discovered.

The strike by members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists entered its third month this week and is now at a standstill.

Separately, the statistics show the number of days for feature film shooting in July fell sharply to 615 from 1,030, which officials said was due in part to producers holding off on projects until after the Democratic National Convention this month. Also, TV shooting days outside studio lots rose to 839 from 677 in July.