Pilot season is back at NBC, and with it a fresh wave of work for crews in Los Angeles and beyond. The network ordered eight pilots this year, five dramas and three comedies, in a move that suddenly put soundstages and city streets back to work. All eight projects were produced by Universal Television and filmed in Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta, generating roughly 4,000 jobs across the three hubs. The slate ranges from dramas such as a reboot of The Rockford Files, What the Dead Know, and Key Witness, to comedies including Sunset P.I., Newlyweds, and Jill & Ginger.
Lisa Katz, NBC’s president of scripted content, told the Los Angeles Times that ordering pilots is “a way to really pressure test development” and can cut down on expensive reshoots. Universal Television president Erin Underhill also highlighted Los Angeles’ creative infrastructure as a key advantage. According to the Los Angeles Times, the pilots wrapped production ahead of NBC’s upfront presentation and were shot across Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta, giving advertisers a clearer sense of what might land on the schedule.
Local jobs and shoot days
For crews on the ground, that eight-pilot push translated into an estimated 4,000 jobs in Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta. The timing lined up with other signs of life on local sets. FilmLA’s Q1 2026 update reported that Greater Los Angeles production logged 5,121 shoot days for the quarter, and that TV drama and comedy shoot days were trending upward, which the office described as an early but modest rebound for the region’s on-location work, according to FilmLA.
What was shot where
The three comedies, Sunset P.I., Newlyweds, and Jill & Ginger, were filmed on Universal’s lot in Los Angeles, with additional location work around the city, according to the Los Angeles Times. Sunset P.I. also qualified for a California production tax credit, the paper reported. The Rockford Files reboot, which cast David Boreanaz in the lead, shot portions of its pilot in Atlanta, per TVLine, and industry outlets tracked casting and studio credits across the other projects.
Why networks are ordering pilots again
Network executives argue that pilots are a cheaper, lower-risk way to test out concepts and cast chemistry than going straight to series, and that a one-off episode gives them room to tweak a show before committing to a full season. NBC’s Lisa Katz framed the strategy as a way to “finetune” potential hits and to keep crews working, in an exclusive interview with TheWrap. The approach also helps fill schedule gaps created by sports rights while giving advertisers something concrete to evaluate during upfront week.
For below-the-line workers in Los Angeles, this pilot pipeline is a welcome jolt. The real test will come around upfronts, when NBC decides which of these eight pilots move forward to series, and whether this short burst of work turns into sustained production in the region.
