As Los Angeles wrestles with a pullback in filming, Simi Valley has quietly turned into one of Southern California’s go-to spots for TV and film shoots. The small city logged nearly 300 production days in 2025 across dozens of projects, and local restaurants and services say crews are now familiar faces. The boom may be modest on Hollywood scales, but for a community this size, it is starting to feel like a real wave.
According to the City of Simi Valley, the city recorded 296 filming days across 87 productions in 2025, generating an estimated $5.25 million in economic impact. Those numbers come from a mix of television series, commercials and feature films, with projects including Monster, Hacks and The Last Thing He Told Me. City officials say the heightened production activity translated directly into local jobs and revenue last year.
In an interview with ABC7 Los Angeles, City Manager Samantha Argabrite put it bluntly: "Filming is alive and well here in Simi Valley." She told the station that streamlined permitting and the absence of a monitoring fee can save productions thousands of dollars. Local workers say they see that advantage show up tableside and at shop counters, as crews become steady customers at neighborhood businesses.
Why crews are choosing Simi Valley
Simi sits inside the industry’s 30-Mile Studio Zone, which helps trim travel and lodging costs for cast and crew. The city offers finished stages, open backlots and nearby ranchland and rock outcrops, giving location scouts a surprisingly wide palette of looks without long drives. Officials point to permitting simplicity and lower onsite fees as practical reasons productions are booking in Simi, according to the City of Simi Valley.
Los Angeles' shrinking shoot days
The shift out of Los Angeles comes with some hard numbers behind it. Industry data shows why producers are looking farther afield: FilmLA reported that Greater Los Angeles logged roughly 19,694 on-location shoot days in 2025, a decline of about 16% from 2024. That shortfall has made suburban locations and smaller studio campuses look a lot more attractive to line producers watching every dollar.
Local businesses cash in
Even relatively small shoots can mean dependable work for caterers, equipment rentals and local diners. A server at the Old Susana Café told ABC7 Los Angeles that crews have become regulars and "bring business to us." Industry providers and neighborhood merchants say those ripple effects add up quickly on shoot days.
Simi Valley’s totals still look modest next to Hollywood’s, but the recent run shows how local policy, available stages and a handful of scenic locations can quietly reshape where shoots land. For now, the city is pitching itself as a cheaper, faster option while Los Angeles and the wider industry work through incentives and pipeline fixes for a hoped-for comeback.
