LA fires threaten to push Hollywood further away
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Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios
Hollywood was already drifting out of Hollywood, and the destructive wildfires that have ravaged Los Angeles dealt another blow to the city's attempt at winning back film and TV productions.
Why it matters: The city's biggest economic driver is still recovering from a challenging decade that has already included a pandemic and twin labor strikes.
State of play: LA-based film and TV production had its second-worst year in terms of shooting days, according to FilmLA, a non-profit group that hands out filming permits in the city.
- Last year featured 23,480 shooting days, coming only ahead of 2020.
- Overall production last year was down 31% compared to its five-year average (not including 2020).
- Although many studio facilities were relatively untouched by the fires, production was still halted, though some shows have picked back up.
The big picture: Over the past decade-plus, Hollywood has increasingly moved production outside of Southern California to places like Georgia, New York, New Jersey and New Mexico due in large part to generous tax breaks.
- Many big-budget films are also increasingly choosing to shoot outside of the U.S. For example, 2022's "The Batman" was filmed almost entirely in England and Scotland and used Warner Bros.' Leavesden studio in England.
- Many TV shows choose to film in Toronto or Vancouver to save costs.
What's next: California Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed to double the state's film and TV tax credit from $330 million to $750 million annually. That would take it past states like New York.
- In December, a new coalition made up of over 30 different local organizations, including studio operators and payroll firms, called the California Production Coalition, formed to lobby the state on how it can stop productions from leaving.
- President-elect Trump said Thursday that he'd appoint three actors — Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight — as "special ambassadors" in order to help bring "Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK!"
- It's unclear what the three — Gibson is also a director — can actually do to reverse the trend.
Zoom in: Additionally, there are multiple studio renovation projects in various stages of planning and development that could total nearly $3 billion.
- The morning before the fires started, the Los Angeles City Council approved Hackman Capital's $1 billion proposal to expand the famed Television City studio. Hackman has a separate $1 billion proposal to renovate Radford Studio Center.
- Warner Bros. is nearly finished with a $500 million renovation of its Ranch Lot and East End Studios is building a $230 million studio in the Arts District.
The bottom line: Given that Hollywood is likely to play a starring role in Los Angeles' recovery efforts, there may be even more incentive now to bring filmmaking back home.
