From LA, with love

Our offices are situated a mere two neighborhoods from Pacific Palisades, a

community that has been home to hundreds of film and TV workers and was

engulfed by flames in a matter of hours (more on Variety). Altadena, also home

to many entertainment professionals, had 14 thousand acres of houses, schools

and shops burned by the Eaton Fire.

The devastation is unprecedented. An area the size of Miami has been

destroyed. The emotional distress is real and permeates the city of angels in this

sad beginning of 2025. At the same time, we see resilience and humanitarian

efforts reminding us of the best in human race.

Touch and Go

Hollywood has already been suffering from an exodus of around 8 thousand

professionals and many productions - the city experienced a 5% drop in

production in Q4/2024 (Variety).

It has been a bad succession of events: from trying to rebuild from the

pandemic, to coming back from the 2023 strikes, to readjusting to the streaming

era. The entertainment industry was hit by the fires at its lowest.

Help on the way

Before the fires, LA has been gradually losing space to other cities and countries

as the TV and film entertainment epicenter (more on Hollywood 2.0 newsletter).

Back in October 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom announced more than a doubled

tax credit incentive to attract more filming to Los Angeles. The goal is to prevent

productions from going to places like Atlanta and Canada, where the rebates are

much more aggressive (details on Deadline).

Television City

The day the fires started, a $1 billion expansion for the Television City Project got

approved by the Los Angeles City Council. The new development is expected to

create more than 16 thousand jobs, between construction and productions. The

number of stages will jump from the current 9 to 15, as reported by Deadline, set

to be ready before the Olympic Games of 2028.

Special Ambassadors

The new president just announced Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson

as special envoys to make Hollywood “bigger, better and stronger than ever

before!” (The Independent). Although it is unclear what they can or will do, LA

has been trending among politicians who are trying to save it from a steeper fall.

The question is: can politics help the entertainment capital of the world?

Phoenix

We really hope that LA will rise back from the ashes, and quickly. But things will

be different. As a Los Angeles based company, Malin Entertainment is here to

support the ones who were directly affected in the fires, and to be an open door

for collaboration from outside our city.

Thank you for your messages during the past weeks.

We appreciate your kindness.

Laura