The Production Map | By ADs, For ADs LLC

A By ADs, For ADs LLC Newsletter

A monthly snapshot of production activity: where major projects are filming, how it’s changing month to month, and which regions are trending. Free, quick to read, and made for crew.

About Your Newsletter

The Production Map is a monthly snapshot of where major film and scripted TV productions are shooting—built to help US, Canadian & European crew track where the work is moving.

At the end of each month, we send a free email with charts, maps, and a short roundup of news that helps explain what’s shifting production activity and why. It’s meant to be quick to read and easy to act on: what’s up, what’s down, and where things are trending. If you want to dig deeper, thats where this page comes in. It'll have more charts and data than what fits in the monthly snapshot emails.

If you have feedback, data tips, or corrections, we'd love to hear them.
Contact: NewsTips@byadsforads.com

**Data is meant for North American & European crew or talent to track where their major productions are shifting. Smaller projects or other regional industries may not be shown.**

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2026 DATA

The States

Europe

April Vs May

Here’s a percentage of major U.S./Hollywood-Market Film and TV around the world from April to May.

USA with a 2% loss going into May. Canada also loss 2%. All stemming from EU & UK gains.

May News & Updates

May brought more labor stability, but the bigger threat to crew is still fewer greenlights.
USA is showing signs of stabilization, but the overall production is still smaller. Incentives are moving shows around more than pure volume growth is.
- U.S. Q1 2026 production spending held around $3.8B, while global production spending fell 6% year over year and total film/TV starts fell 7%. - ep.com
California is still pulling productions back with its new incentives.
- CBS' Tracker became a clear example. The series relocated from Vancouver to LA for Season 4 with a reported $48M CA tax credit.
- Entertainment Partners reported that CA's expanded program has approved 147 productions, a 53% year-over-year increase.
Georgia is slowly losing its lead on New Jersey, month by month.
- NJ just passed GA this month in film production count, but GA still holds more TV productions.
- GA was kicked out of our 20+ Club this month. Leaving just CA & NY.
New Jersey productions spent nearly $1B in 2025, about double 2024, helped by credits up to 45%. - wsj.com
Hawaii's incentive program may receive a major update.
- SB 2580 has passed both chambers of the Hawaii State Legislature and is pending Governor Josh Green's signature. - ep.com
European Union has picked up a lot this month as we get closer to summer.
- Italy, Spain & Germany with the biggest spikes in new productions.
- Spain has surpassed Ireland in number of productions.
United Kingdom has also taken off with a lot more productions this month.
- More than doubling its past month averages.
- Welcome to the 20+ Club.
WGA has approved a new four-year deal with the studios.
SAG actors reached a tentative four-year deal with the studios in early May.
DGA began talks with the AMPTP on May 11th, with talks scheduled through June 5th. Their contract ends June 30th.

March Vs April

Here’s a percentage of all major film and tv around the world from March to April.

USA with a 8% share loss going into April. Canada stayed the same and everywhere else grew.

April News & Updates

April improved on March for the USA, Canada, EU & Australia.
California is trying to claw work back with bigger incentive money. The California Film Commission's April film-credit round put roughly $200 million in tax credits toward 38 projects, with the state projecting about $800 million in economic activity. - FilmLA.com
New Jersey keeps looking more serious as a production hub, not just a one-off location. Paramount's long-term lease at the 1888 Studios complex in Bayonne, plus Netflix's Fort Monmouth buildout, shows New Jersey is turning tax credits and stage space into a real pitch against California and New York. - WSJ.com
AMC will release the premiere episode of its new series "The Audacity" as 21 three-minute clips on TikTok, with the full episode also airing on AMC and AMC+. Let that sink in..
SAG started talks with the AMPTP in February for about 5 weeks before pausing. They are now back at the negotiating table as of April 27. Their contract expires June 30th.
WGA ratified their new contract with the AMPTP on April 24th. The vote was 90% Yes.
DGA is scheduled to start talks with the AMPTP May 11th, with their contract ending June 30th.

February Vs March

Here’s a percentage of all major film and tv around the world from February to March.

USA with a 8% share gain going into March. Canada stayed the same and everywhere else dropped a bit.

March News & Updates

March improved on February for the USA.
USA ended 2025 with about 150 active productions and has been holding around 191 active production so far in 2026.
Canada has been holding a 51 average for productions per month, which is slightly lower than last year.
EU ended 2025 with 18 productions it grew in February considerably but seemed to have cooled a bit in March to about 12 productions.
- Ireland and Spain with the most and Italy dipping down a bit.
UK ended 2025 with about 19 productions and grew in February but cooled some as well, just not as much as the EU.
- Averaging about 20 productions in March.
"San Francisco, Mayor Daniel Lurie has signed legislation modernizing the city's outdated (2006) film incentive, boosting it to a 20% rebate on qualified spend about $1M (10% on the first $1M), plus 100% rebate on city fees capping at $1M." - ep.com
US Federal Incentive - There was a little movement on March 20th for a federal tax incentive as Senator Adam Schiff held a public hearing on the matter, floating some incentive legislation.
"Savannah, GA - The Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA) finalized its 2026 guidelines, introducing a new Tier 1 local cash rebate to aggressively lure independent productions back to the city." - ep.com
Montana's Media Tax Credit application process has been temporarily suspended due to it hitting it statutory cap so quickly.
"Mexico has announced the launch of a new national film and television incentive framework, targeting a headline benefit of up to 30% on qualified production spend." - ep.com

January Vs February

Here’s a percentage of all film and tv around the world from January to February.

USA with a -10% share loss going into February as the new year starts to spring up new productions around the globe. Canada also with a loss (-1%) and everywhere else gained.

February News & Updates

February improved on January for the USA, Canada, EU & UK.
USA ended 2025 with about 150 active productions and started January off with around 180 productions. That has now grown to around 195 union productions in February. That’s a welcome increase but expected as productions normally slow down going into the holidays, then ramp up in the new year. But still hopeful, as USA averaged 160 productions per month over the year of 2025 and 70 in 2024…
Canada ended 2025 with 58 productions and started the year off with 48. Now has 55 going into February.
EU ended 2025 with 18 productions and started off the new year with 10 and has more than doubled that going into February with around 26 productions.
- Spain and Italy really starting to take off
UK ended 2025 with about 19 productions and started with 14 in January and grew that to around 25 in February.
Texas - doubled down on being a magnet for production. Texas' updated Moving Image Industry Incentive Program is being set up to disburse $300M every two years and requires 35% Texas-resident cast/crew to qualify. Exactly the kind of rule that attracts shows and grows local hiring. - axios.com
“Wisconsin officially re-entered the incentive race (Jan 13 update): Wisconsin re-established a film incentive (Wisconsin Act 15) with a 30% transferable credit, a $5M annual cap, and $1M per applicant.” ep.com
- Aimed at pulling projects into WI starting in 2026.
"Illinois - With the 55% stackable tax credit and a program extension through 2038, Illinois has moved from a regional player to a global production powerhouse." - ep.com
Australia’s new tax incentive looks to being kicking off the year well with Australia now in 4th place for countries with most productions right now.

December Vs January

Here’s a percentage of all film and tv around the world from December to January.

USA with a +3% share gain at the start of 2026, we’ll see how that holds throughout the year.

January News & Updates

USA ended 2025 with about 150 active productions and started January off with around 180 productions. That’s a welcome increase but expected as productions normally slow down going into the holidays, then ramp up in the new year. But still good, as USA averaged 160 productions per month over the year of 2025 and 70 in 2024…
Canada ended 2025 with 58 productions and is starting the year off with 48.
EU ended with 18 and is starting off the new year with 10.
UK ended with about 19 and is starting with 14.
Atlanta, GA - Tyler Perry announced a $100 Million expansion for his studio to train young black creatives. Is said to create around 2000 new jobs in the area.
“Wisconsin officially re-entered the incentive race (Jan 13 update): Wisconsin re-established a film incentive (Wisconsin Act 15) with a 30% transferable credit, a $5M annual cap, and $1M per applicant.” ep.com
- Aimed at pulling projects into WI starting in 2026.
“A key U.S. Federal production tax break ended after 2025: IRC Section 181 (the “expense production costs now” option that helped cash flow/financing) expired after Dec 31, 2025 for projects that didn’t properly qualify before the deadline” - ep.com
- Making some projects harder to finance and potentially shrinking lower-budget slates.
“Australia’s new streamer content-spend rule was set to start Jan 1: Australia’s “Australian Content Requirement” is expected to take effect Jan 1, 2026, requiring major streamers (1M+ subs) to invest 10% of Australian program spend (or 7.5% of AU revenue) into new local content.” - arts.gov.au
- This can force more production activity in Australia.
“Ireland introduced a brand-new unscripted incentive (Jan 4/5): Ireland launched a 20% tax credit for unscripted production (Section 487A) up to €15M per project (with cultural test + certification).” - gov.ie
- That’s a clear “come shoot reality/unscripted here” signal.

Month to Month World Chart - 2025

Number of Productions

2025 DATA

2024 Vs 2025

News Recap of 2025

2024 slightly improved from 2023’s low and 2025 improved on that. But not as much as most of us wanted.
“California supercharged its incentive to try to stop runaway production — CA expanded its Film & TV Tax Credit from $330M to $750M annually. This is explicitly aimed at keeping shows/features in-state.” According to gov.ca.gov
- This is what mainly trigged the spikes from June through October in USA.
“New York raised the stakes — the 2025–26 NY budget boosted the film/TV incentive program to an $800M annual cap and created a dedicated pool for independents, to compete harder for shoots.” - Hollywood Reporter
“New Jersey expanded/extended its program — NJ signed legislation (June 30, 2025) strengthening the Film & Digital Media Tax Credit program, adding new sweeteners and more eligible buckets—another magnet for NYC-adjacent production.” - NJ.gov
“Illinois upgraded its incentive — Illinois expanded its film tax credit in 2025 (including 35% on qualified IL spending, including post and resident wages), making Chicago/Illinois more competitive for productions shopping incentives.” - dceo.illinois.gov
Georgia tightened administration/compliance around credits — Georgia updated procedures for the mandatory film tax credit audit program in 2025; not sexy, but it affects friction/cost of claiming (and can influence budgeting decisions).