LA production is shifting outward
A thread argues that streaming, globalization and AI are moving production and jobs away from Los Angeles, urging producers to adapt to remote and global workflows. The post frames these shifts as drivers of a broader 'exodus' in traditional LA production patterns. (x.com)
Los Angeles production is still shrinking, even after the 2023 strikes ended, and more work is being pushed to other states, other countries and cheaper workflows. (filmla.com) FilmLA said Greater Los Angeles logged 23,480 on-location shoot days in 2024, down 5.6% from 2023 and the second-lowest annual total it has recorded after 2020. Reality television, a format that generates heavy permit activity in Los Angeles, fell 45.9% for the year. (filmla.com) The weakness showed up earlier in the year too. FilmLA said second-quarter 2024 on-location filming fell 12.4% from a year earlier, with reality television down 56.9%, while commercials were becoming “attractive targets for other film jurisdictions.” (filmla.com) Outside California, the competition is organized and global. ProdPro’s 2025 outlook survey of more than 150 studio executives ranked Toronto, the United Kingdom, Vancouver, Central Europe and Australia as the five most preferred production hubs, with California sixth. (thewrap.com) ProdPro also found global production had not returned to its 2022 level. The number of television series and feature films in 2024 was up 18% from strike-hit 2023 but still down 11% from 2022, while studio spending was about 12% below 2022. (thewrap.com) The jobs picture in Los Angeles has weakened with the production slowdown. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis data, based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures, put motion picture and sound recording employment in the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale division at 111,000 in December 2025, far below the peaks shown on the series before the recent downturn. (fred.stlouisfed.org) Otis College said California’s creative economy contracted by 2.9% over the past year, with losses driven by “structural shifts” in film, television and traditional media and felt most acutely in Los Angeles County. In a separate April 2026 report, Otis said film, television and sound employment in California fell 29.6% from 2022 to 2025. (otis.edu, otis.edu) Artificial intelligence is part of the workflow debate, but Otis said the recent job losses do not match a pattern of direct worker displacement by generative artificial intelligence. The college’s April 2026 report said cost pressure and industry restructuring, not automation alone, explain more of the current contraction. (otis.edu, otis.edu) California responded by expanding its film and television tax credit program from $330 million to $750 million a year, effective July 1, 2025. Governor Gavin Newsom’s office said 69% of rejected tax-credit projects in recent years later filmed out of state. (gov.ca.gov) That leaves Los Angeles with a narrower advantage than it had during the peak-streaming years. The city still has crews, stages and studios, but the numbers now show a business that is being split across more places, with fewer guarantees that the work stays home. (filmla.com, thewrap.com)
