Hollywood 2.0

Is it the end of an era? Hollywood is in full crisis as crews of film and TV workers leave Los Angeles because of rising unemployment and high costs of living. “Everyone is in “panic mode”, this Los Angeles Times article alerts. Pursuing the dream in Hollywood has become way too expensive and uncertain. Add that to the A.I. fear factor that looms over the entertainment industry. As a result, many people are migrating to more affordable places and looking to reinvent themselves (again on LA Times). 

Tinseltown 

The streaming era made Los Angeles blossom by the end of the 2010s with more productions than ever. The city saw a migration of talents and crew members relocating for work. In 2016, entertainment employment peaked, and it resisted the pandemic setback until mid-2022, according to Deadline. 

In the past two years, the numbers fell by 26%. And this includes “a good 20% of the VP-and-above executive workforce” (Deadline). What happened was a combination of the after-pandemic effect, driven by inflation, that led to streamers and studios cutting back their productions. On top of it all, the unforgettable six months of strikes led to around 180 thousand jobs cut. As a result, Los Angeles has also lost 8.7% of location filming in the first quarter of this year, when compared to 2023. 

Yellow Brick Road 

So, where is the entertainment industry relocating to? Las Vegas has already swept AFM, the biggest US film market that took place in Los Angeles for the past 43 years. But that is not all: Nevada is also building soundstages. Summerlin Production Studios Project, a collaboration between Sony Picture Entertainment and Hughes Holdings, is raising a 700-million-dollar facility. 

According to Variety, actor Mark Wahlberg is pushing to pass a tax credit law worth $190 million per year to bring more productions to the state. Not everything is going to Nevada, though. Netflix just inaugurated 108 acres of soundstages, mills, offices and backlots in Albuquerque, New Mexico (Deadline). 

The company has already hired more than 4,000 cast and crew members for productions in the state.

Still LA-based

We know that Hollywood is much more than a physical location – it is a place where dreams come true. But if you need a hands-on team in Los Angeles, we are here to represent and help you! 

Cheers,

Laura