Despite the entreaties of Lousiana, North Carolina and Canada, Pierce Brosnan’s indie comedy “How to Make Love Like an Englishman” is shooting where it’s set — in Los Angeles.

The 25-day shoot started Oct. 14 with “Southland” star Ben McKenzie, Salma Hayek, Jessica Alba and Malcolm McDowell starring. Tom Vaughn is directing from Matthew Newman’s script.

Brosnan plays a university professor who finds a woman (Hayek) who forces him to reevaluate his life of hedonistic excess — after he gets her grad student stepsister pregnant.

“It’s set in L.A. so we shot it in L.A.,” said producer Beau St. Clair, Brosnan’s longtime producing partner in Irish Dreamtime. “We could have saved money if we had shot in New Orleans or Wilmington, but it would not have looked like L.A. So we thought it would be better to work with a lean lean budget and shoot here instead of trying to fake it in some place like Vancouver.”

St. Clair said the budget was $30 million when the project was first developed in 2006. “It’s a lot less now,” she added.

She also said 40% percent is shot in Malibu. According to the FilmL.A. permitting agency, shoots have taken place at Los Angeles Center Studios, a restaurant on Wilshire in Westlake South, a downtown loft and a private residence in the mid-city area along with downtown driving shots.

Besides St. Clair, producers are Richard B. Lewis and Kevin Frakes as part of a co-production between Palmstar Media Capital, Southpaw Entertainment, Irish Dreamtime and Envision.

The Solution will be selling international rights at the upcoming American Film Market.

Feature film production in Los Angeles jumped 19.5% in the third quarter, concentrated in small-budget projects such as Zach Braff’s Kickstarter-funded “Wish I Was Here.” FilmL.A. noted in that report that the activity level lags far behind the record setting numbers of 1996.

FilmL.A. reported Tuesday that the most active film last week was Jake Gyllenhaal’s thriller “Nightcrawler” with 18 permitted days. The movie is receiving a $2.3 million allocation from the California Film and Television Tax Credit Program.

Momentum has been gaining to improve the California Film and Television Tax Credit Program, which is far smaller than rival incentive programs in other states with a $100 million annual limit in credits and exclusion of features with budgets over $75 million. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti recently appointed Tom Sherak as film czar to address the runaway issue and several state legislators have announced plans to increase the scope of the incentive program.

Pierce Brosnan has been busy — and may have a new franchise in “November Man,” which is in post-production. It’s one of 10 titles that the Solution Entertainment Group is offering for foreign sales at the American Film Market, where Solution will unveil a new promo to buyers.

Brosnan’s production company Irish DreamTime announced the project last year at Cannes as the launch title in a multipicture financing and distribution deal with Solution. “November Man” centers on an ex-CIA operative who is brought back in on a personal mission and finds himself pitted against his former pupil in an operation involving high-level CIA officials and the Russian president-elect.

“After Pierce had finished with Bond, he wanted to do something edgier and darker, and Dino Conti, a longtime producer at MGM, had always urged me to get ‘November Man,’ ” said Beau St. Clair, Brosnan’s longtime producing partner.

The development money was raised last year through Solution, Myles Nestel and Lisa Wilson’s sales-financing banner. Das Films funded development and The Solution secured the financing.

Brosnan is working on another project for sale via Solution at AFM — the romancer “How to Make Love Like an Englishman.”

“It’s set in L.A., so we shot it in L.A.,” St. Clair said. “We could have saved money if we had shot in New Orleans or Wilmington, but it would not have looked like L.A. So we thought it would be better to work with a lean, lean budget and shoot here instead of trying to fake it in some place like Vancouver.”

St. Clair said the budget was $30 million when the project was first developed in 2006. “It’s a lot less now,” she added.

Brosnan is also shooting action-thriller “The Coup” with the Dowdle brothers in Thailand and then “I.T.,” in which he’ll play a successful book publisher pitted against a young disgruntled I.T. consultant.