When most people think of movies, the first place that comes to mind is almost always Hollywood. For decades, Los Angeles has been the center of the film industry, however, that’s been slowly changing. Over the past several years, production in LA has significantly dropped off from its historic rates. For perspective, none of the films nominated for this year’s Oscars awards were filmed in LA. So what exactly led to this trend?

One of the main factors fueling this change is the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine. Between 2020 and 2021, production and theater going across the board sharply declined with the ensuing year-long lockdown, which greatly affected the film business. This also sped up the transition from in-person watching to online streaming, which has further hurt production.

COVID-19 also led to pay docks for writers and actors, which was one of the main causes of the 2023 Writer’s Guild strike, which ground the business to a halt for almost half a year as a majority of the workforce walked out in protest. The effects of the strike are still being felt, as filming has yet to fully ramp back up to its pre-strike levels.

However, all of these affected the business as a whole. So why has California been disproportionately affected by this slowdown? Karen O’Brien, an LA-based line producer, points to another important consideration: “It’s cost.” As the cost of living in Southern California and the overhead of filming grows, studios have been forced to save as much money as possible to keep profitable. “What’s happening is that the business model is changing: people want to make the same kinds of productions that they used to, but for less money,” O’Brien notes.

Due to this, many productions are opting to leave the state. For many years, California has offered studios tax credits, essentially giving them money in exchange for filming in-state. However, other cities such as Atlanta, London and New York have begun to offer much more competitive incentives, as well as the funding for development of film infrastructure like building studio lots and training crew members.

As expected, this has impacted LA filming majorly. “The people who are really getting affected are the local crews, particularly those below the line like electricians, the grips, production coordinators. It’s the people who can’t travel [for work] that are getting hit the most.” According to FilmLA, 2024 was the second least productive year on record only behind 2020, and that it represented a whopping 31% drop in filming days compared to the five-year average.

So, how can LA regain all of this work? “It’s a very complex issue,” says O’Brien. “The cost of living is so high, so I don’t think that it’s fair to cut rates [for crew]. People have to be mindful of costs to keep the city competitive.” However, she notes, that may not be enough to bring things back to the way they were. “The business isn’t as lucrative as it used to be, and producers won’t film in LA if they know that they can do it cheaper somewhere else.”