COUNTY ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY BOOMS.

Byline: Associated Press 

Entertainment production activity in Los Angeles County jumped more than 30 percent from January to November, an industry group says.

The growth reflects an unprecedented across-the-board gain in movie production, television activity and commercial shooting, said Cody Cluff, president of the Entertainment Industry Development Corp.

``We've never seen anything like this,'' he said.

The EIDC was formed last year following the merger of the county and city film permit offices to help promote increased local production.

The number of production days - which include music and still photography - during the first 11 months of 1996 reached nearly 40,400, an increase of slightly more than 10,000 during the same period last year.

Production days reached 4,402 last month, up 66 percent from November 1995 and the second-highest month this year.

The region benefited from five big-budget features shot this year for release in 1997 - Warner Bros.' ``Batman and Robin,'' 20th Century Fox's ``Volcano,'' Universal's ``Dante's Peak,'' TriStar's ``Starship Troopers'' and Paramount's ``The Flood.''

The production boom has led to studios building new facilities in the Los Angeles area, including Disney's five-story office building with two sound stages and a production support center in Burbank, and expansions by Warner and NBC in Burbank and CBS in Studio City. Universal Studios plans to double current building space over 25 years, and anew DreamWorks SKG animation studio is set for Glendale.