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By India McCarty
Could the cons outweigh the pros when it comes to making movies in Hollywood? From rising production costs, complicated union agreements and local government regulations, many productions are choosing to flee LA for other cities.
“This is supposed to be the film capital of the world,” Noelle Stehman, a co-founder of the grassroots group Stay in LA, a coalition promoting keeping productions in LA, said. “It should be the cheapest and easiest place to film. In fact, it is the most cumbersome and the most expensive. That cannot continue. If we don’t do something quickly, this is going to become the next Detroit.”
Mike Miller, vice president of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, made similar comments to Stehman’s: “I watched the demise of steel and rubber and automotive manufacturing as I grew up [in Cleveland]. This is identical in many ways. We have an undeclared trade war that our government is standing by and watching happen.”
In a report released earlier this year, The Hollywood Reporter revealed production in LA had hit a historic low — 19.69k shooting days in LA in 2025. The only time that number has been lower was in 2020, when productions were shuttered for COVID-19 lockdowns (18.93k).
Related: Is It Too Late to Save the LA Production Industry?
One of the main things keeping productions out of Hollywood? The tax breaks and rebates that many other states and countries offer.
“In my understanding, California’s rebate is one of the least beneficial for anybody who is financing motion pictures and television,” Charles Roven, co-founder of Atlas Entertainment and producer of OPPENHEIMER and WONDER WOMAN, said. “It’s capped and it has no above-the-line.”
Compare that to Canada’s 16% labor credit, or the UK, which offers an incentive that not only covers up-front salaries for actors, writers, directors, and producers, but covers back-end pay if the project has a UK partner.
Stay in LA has proposed uncapping the tax incentive, calling it an “overall disaster relief effort,” as well as calling on “studios and streamers to pledge at least 10% more production in LA over the next 3-years,” but no big changes have been made.
The problem has gotten so bad that the US government has gotten involved; Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, drafted legislation that would grant 15% federal credit for labor costs.
“We’ve been working very hard to get an affirmative statement out of the president that he’s open to Congress looking at a federal incentive,” said Scott Karol, who is working on the issue with Jon Voight, one of Trump’s “Hollywood ambassadors.” “We think that will open up the floodgates, and you’ll see a caucus of bipartisan politicians that will come out in support of this.”
It’s unclear what Hollywood’s fate might be, but the entertainment industry is hopeful a federal incentive will get the ball rolling on returning productions to LA.
Read Next: California Can’t Keep Business in Hollywood as Other States, Countries Swoop In
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