Employment in the entertainment industry in California experienced major gains last year, adding nearly 15,000 jobs when it bounces from a strong contraction leading to and during the strikes of 2023.
But the last The Otis College report on the creative economy, published Thursday, shows that work in the sector remains well below the pre-faste levels. Only a quarter of the jobs lost after 2022, when Peak TV culminated, returned in the state. Combined with production data in Los Angeles, the study suggests that employment may not rebound anytime soon.
At the forefront of the questions asked by the results: if the industry in California is installed in what the report calls for a “new normal” characterized by production levels and lower employment compared to the years preceding the strike. Film data allowing the filmla office suggest that the trend could continue as production in the region last year hit a little timeWith 23,480 days of shooting. For comparison, the five years from 2017 to 2022 experienced an average of 37,624 days of filming (these figures exclude 2020, when the shooting was interrupted in the middle of the pandemic).
Production erosion in California can be attributed to a confluence of factors. The studios in 2022 reduced production budgets after a year -long race to create original content for their streaming platforms. While Penny-Pinching has become even more vital when leaving the strikes, productions are choosing more and more to shoot in regions with more generous subsidies for Hollywood.
The legislators took note of the theft of movies and television programs in California. The state program which provides tax relief to the industry is now considering a major overhaul in a tit-for-tat race to welcome Hollywood. The overhaul includes the increase in the ceiling of $ 330 million to $ 750 million per year and considerably increase the credit to 35% while widening the category of productions that qualify to include shorter television emissions, animated titles and certain types of uncripted projects. It remains to be seen if this will be enough to restore the production and work in the state measurable, although there is skepticism given the massive drop in Los Angeles shooting levels in the past two years.
There was a drop of around 20% of cinematographic and televised employment in California against 2022, when work in the sector has reached a high point, according to census data.
However, California is by far the most powerful player in the entertainment industry in the United States. It represents 35% of all the jobs of cinema, television and solid and a quarter of all new jobs in the media, according to Thursday’s report. It also houses 37% of managers, artists and independent artists.
The sectors that compromise the creative economy of the report include film, television and sound; traditional media; New media; Beaux arts; Independent managers, artists and artists; advertisement; architecture; fashion; and design and manufacturing. Among these groups, the traditional media displayed the greatest drop in jobs over five years (34,993), while the new media posted the greatest gain during the same period (22,505). The latter sector now represents 31% of all creative jobs in California, before cinema, television and sound, which represents 17%.
In order to limit the production of fugue, the folks of the local industry launched the “Stay in La” initiative, which requires emergency measures to restore local shooting. He also urges studios to promise at least 10% more production in Los Angeles over the next three years.