L.A. LOCATION SHOOTING UP 21.4% OVER LAST YEAR.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

After a strong showing in January, Los Angeles area location shooting for feature films fell last month by a dramatic 32 percent. But the blow was cushioned by robust television shooting that boosted overall activity by 21.4 percent, according to figures released by the Entertainment Industry Development Corp.

The 487 days of feature film production were the lowest since last September and down 231 days from February 2003.

``We saw a number of features wrap in January,'' explained Lisa Rawlins, chairwoman of the EIDC's board of directors. ``But we are seeing a lot of pre-production and my guess is we will see a bump in feature films in April.''

Among the feature films shooting in February was ``Be Cool,'' starring John Travolta in what is a sequel to the 1995 hit ``Get Shorty,'' which also starred Travolta. Other projects were ``Coach Carter'' starring Samuel L. Jackson, ``Mr. and Mrs. Smith'' featuring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, ``Hostage'' starring Bruce Willis, and the Adam Sandler film ``Spanglish.''

Television production reached 1,474 days in February, a 38 percent jump from last year's 1,066 days.

Among the television series helping to boost the February figures included the Fox action-drama ``24'' starring Kiefer Sutherland, the Lifetime cable police drama ``The Division,'' the Fox comedy ``Arrested Development,'' the WB family drama ``7th Heaven,'' the ABC drama ``Alias'' starring Jennifer Garner, and the new CBS series ``Without a Trace.''

``We are seeing some pilots starting a little early and reality television is contributing to some degree,'' Rawlins said. ``I think we are off to a good start in 2004 and we are very pleased.''

Meanwhile, two less high-profile categories, commercials and music videos, had sensational months in February. Music videos ended the month with 148 days of location shooting, which represented a 53 percent increase over the same month a year ago.

Commercials, which have suffered the most during sluggish economic times, enjoyed a 48 percent spike to 868 production days in February. During the same month a year ago, commercial activity was a mere 587 days.

Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., said the boost was probably driven by the plethora of political ads that hit the airwaves in the weeks leading up to Tuesday's California primary elections.

``The auto industry also has more new commercials coming on so you are seeing commercial activity coming back and that's good news,'' Kyser said.

The EIDC numbers reflect on-location filming within the city of Los Angeles, the unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, and the cities of West Hollywood, Diamond Bar and South Gate. The numbers do not reflect productions that solely take place on soundstages.

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com