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Three charts show why Hollywood jobs haven’t come back
Hollywood is in trouble. As if the pandemic, streaming wars and twin strikes weren’t enough to shake the industry’s finances, new box office data paint an even grimmer picture.
First-quarter box office figures still lag behind pre-pandemic levels while streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu and internet video platforms including YouTube and TikTok have become more popular than ever. New technologies are emerging. And the number of low-cost production sites outside of L.A. is growing.
“The very basis of what made Hollywood universally popular in the 20th century was the theatrical feature film. That seems to be ending now,” Jonathan Kuntz, a film historian at UCLA, told my colleagues Don Lee and Samantha Masunaga. “It seems the audience has moved on.”
Producers, distributors, design studios, prop manufacturers, agencies, caterers and more are all feeling the crunch.
Let’s take a look at Don and Samantha’s reporting on the factors at play.
Employment in L.A. County’s entertainment industry has reached its lowest level in more than three decades, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And Californians now make up less than 30% of the country’s entertainment industry workers, down from 40% ten years ago.
It’s one of the reasons why California has the highest unemployment rate in the country.
Even before the strikes, studios had cut back on staff and new shows in order to make up for financial losses incurred during the streaming wars.
In the L.A. area, production has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. In fact, it even lags behind last year. Film and TV production has dropped by about 7% globally in the first quarter of 2024 in comparison with the same period last year, according to tracking company ProdPro.
Even if production does make a comeback, it might not be in L.A. More and more film and TV production has moved to cities outside of California, including Atlanta and Vancouver, where costs are cheaper.
But it’s not just that production jobs haven’t returned to SoCal. Californians are losing out on out-of-state work, too.
In the past, film workers from Southern California would often supplement and lead projects in shooting locations outside L.A., said Kevin Klowden, an economics expert at the Milken Institute.
But, “if the productions are cut back, and budgets are trimmed,” said Klowden, “a major place to see those cuts is in not employing the workers from out of state who need their travel costs covered.”
Experts worry that film industry workers will leave Los Angeles or quit altogether.
Read more:
Today’s top stories
A technician checks equipment at the Clearway Daggett 3 Solar Power + Battery Energy Storage System in Daggett, Calif., in October 2023.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Climate and environment
Politics
Housing
Electric vehicles
The film and TV industry
More big stories
- Inflation eased in May, but don’t expect relief on interest rates anytime soon.
- COVID cases are rising in L.A. County and California as new subvariants make a mark.
- Pro-Palestinian protesters take over Cal State L.A. building, stranding administrators inside.
- Scams tied to Ozempic and other new weight-loss drugs are surging. How to protect yourself.
- Police watchdog finds spying allegations against former LAPD chief ‘unfounded.’
- Silver Lake removes last traffic signs of its anti-gay past.
- Doctors and dentists at L.A. County-run hospitals will get bonuses under a tentative deal.
- A Napa Valley icon, whose California Cabernet shocked the wine world, dies at 95.
- UCLA has a new chancellor: Julio Frenk, University of Miami president, global health expert.
- Jerry West, Lakers legend and architect of ‘Showtime’ era, dies at 86.
- Engineers sue Elon Musk and SpaceX, saying the company mirrored his juvenile, crude X posts.
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Today’s great reads
The aftermath of the fatal helicopter crash on the set of “Twilight Zone: The Movie” in Indian Dunes in July 1982.
(Boris Yaro/Los Angeles Times)
Cameras were rolling when a chopper killed an actor and two kids. Was A-list director to blame? John Landis was the first Hollywood director to face criminal charges for a death on set. The possible penalty was six years in prison. He and four others — his production manager, his associate producer, his special effects coordinator and the helicopter pilot — faced charges of involuntary manslaughter.
Other great reads
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.
For your downtime
Kayla Drake rides her roller skates during a meetup with Vibe Ride LA in Lot 4 South in Santa Monica. The skateboard meetup is open to all skills and other forms of wheels, is free and is an extremely friendly and inclusive group.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
Going out
Staying in
And finally … from our archives
Former President Trump after his arraignment in federal court in Miami in 2023.
(Stephanie Keith / Getty Images)
On June 13, 2023, Donald Trump became the first former U.S. president to be charged with federal crimes as he was arraigned in a Miami courtroom. As Times reporters Sarah D. Wire and Summer Lin reported, he pleaded not guilty to 37 felony counts in a federal classified documents case.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Defne Karabatur, fellow
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor and Saturday reporter
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
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