Where Is Shark Tank Filmed? A Look Inside the Iconic Locations

Shark Tank has captivated home audiences for 15+ years and shows no signs of slowing down, but many viewers may wonder where the Shark Tank IS—in other words, where is Shark Tank filmed?

Well, Shark Tank actually has a primary filming location and a couple of secondary filming locations, which have been used in different seasons to accommodate special needs.

In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about where the Shark Tank magic happens, including all the juicy details about Shark Tank’s filming locations and production process.

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Where Is Shark Tank Filmed: Primary Filming Location

Despite the numerous set changes that you may have noticed throughout Shark Tank’s 15+ seasons, the majority of episodes have been filmed at one primary location: Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California.

This is where the very first season of Shark Tank was filmed, and where the show continues to be filmed.

Sony Pictures Studios has a long, storied history of motion picture production, going back to its founding more than 100 years ago in 1912.

As its name implies, this Shark Tank filming location is owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, and is currently home to various well-known film studios, including Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, and Screen Gems.

The production facility is also the former home of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, from 1924 to 1986, and Lorimar-Telepictures, from 1986 to 1988. If you’ve seen any hollywood productions from the 1920s until now, chances are many of them were filmed in the same place as Shark Tank!

Sony Pictures Studios spans over 45 acres and features 18 soundstages, each fully equipped to handle diverse production needs. 

The lot also includes numerous exterior sets, ranging from New York streets to suburban neighborhoods, offering filmmakers versatile options for creating various on-screen environments that go far beyond the needs of Shark Tank.

Additionally, the studio provides post-production facilities, ensuring a comprehensive production experience from start to finish. This allows Shark Tank to handle all of its production needs in one central location.

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Alternate Filming Locations

As we mentioned earlier, not all of Shark Tank’s seasons have been filmed at Sony Pictures studios.

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, Shark Tank had to scrap its plans to film season 12 in Culver City and seek an alternate filming location that would allow the show to accommodate additional biosecurity protocols.

As it turned out, Shark Tank’s season 12 filming location ended up being the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, where the show’s production team created a production bubble to ensure the safety of its cast and crew during the pandemic.

Interestingly enough, this alternate filming location appears to actually have been chosen because of one of the Shark’s personal connections—Mark Cuban used his personal ties with Patrick Dumont of The Venetian Resort Group to secure a safe filming location for season 12.

The second time Shark Tank used an alternate filming location was during season 14, when the show filmed in front of a live audience for the first time at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California, another one of the most iconic and historic film and television production facilities in the world. 

Established in 1926 by Warner Brothers Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack, the studio has been a household name of the entertainment industry for nearly a century.

The studio’s sprawling 110-acre lot, a neighborhood in its own right, is home to 36 soundstages, each equipped with state-of-the-art technology able to accommodate a wide range of productions, from Hollywood blockbuster films to beloved television series. 

Over the decades, Warner Bros. Studios has been the birthplace of countless cinematic classics and TV hits, including "Casablanca," "Friends," and "The Big Bang Theory," to name just a few.

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Behind-the-Scenes of a Shark Tank Production

There’s a lot more that goes into filming a season of Shark Tank than just where Shark Tank is filmed.

For starters, there’s the set, which is often updated and improved upon for new seasons of Shark Tank to give the show a fresh look and feel. Then there’s the production crew, which has the important job of filming and editing the show to provide the audience with entertaining new episodes.

Shark Tank is filmed on a soundstage, which is a special type of sound-proofed production set that facilitates the recording of sound along with images. The soundstage is built within a warehouse-like building at the filming location.

Shark Tank’s production crew is in charge of ensuring that the set is visually and sonically perfect and that everything runs smoothly during the recording of an episode. Although the majority of Shark Tank episodes are not filmed live, it’s still important to ensure a high quality of recording to help post-production editing go smoothly.

After 15 seasons, Shark Tank's crew likely has the production down to a science, but they’ve certainly had to adapt over the years, especially when COVID forced the show to change its production location and when they filmed live in season 14.

Shark Tank Production Process

Scouting and Selection of Entrepreneurs

Before Shark Tank’s production team can start filming a new season of the show, they have to cast a new selection of entrepreneurs. They do this through a lengthy application process involving online applications, in-person casting calls, and, occasionally, direct invitations to entrepreneurs.

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Preparation and Coaching for Pitches

After the casting team has selected all the entrepreneurs for a new season of Shark Tank, they provide them with some guidance to help them prepare for filming. This can include a list of questions the Sharks are likely to ask them as well as tips on how to effectively pitch their idea on air.

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Filming

Filming a season of Shark Tank occurs over two two-week periods, with the Sharks hearing up to 10 pitches in a day. Despite the short length of many of the pitches you see on TV, some of them actually take over an hour or more to record, meaning a single day of production can last as long as 12 hours.

Post-Production Editing​

After production wraps on the latest season of Shark Tank, the show goes into post-production editing. This is when the production team edits all those hours of recorded pitch footage down into the bite-sized segments you see in a 42-minute episode. 

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Wrapping Up

Shark Tank’s journey from pitch to TV screen is a complex, lengthy process that involves meticulous planning, a dedicated production crew, and, sometimes, versatile filming locations. 

While Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California, remains the primary home for the entrepreneurial spectacle that is Shark Tank, the show’s adaptability was showcased during the pandemic with a pivot to the Venetian Resort in Las Vegas, and later when it switched locations to Warner Bros Studios in Burbank in order to capture live audience recordings.

So, now you have an answer to the burning question of “where is Shark Tank filmed?” We hope this in-depth look at Shark Tank’s production locations and process has given you a deeper appreciation for the behind-the-scenes efforts that bring each episode to life. 

Whether in its primary location or an alternate setup, the reality TV magic of Shark Tank continues to inspire and entertain viewers, not to mention offers a stage for entrepreneurs to turn their dreams into reality.

The show’s seamless transitions between different filming locations along with its high-quality production values certainly keep audiences coming back to Shark Tank, ensuring it will remain a staple of business reality television for years to come!