Newsom says film tax incentives are bringing Hollywood home but industry experts warn it may be 'too late'
Gavin Newsom says Hollywood is returning to its glory after years of production fleeing Los Angeles for cheaper filming locations, but industry experts tell Fox News Digital the sector is still reeling from production "decimation.""We need a major rescue, like, immediately," Shadowcast Pictures owner Jay Ellison said.Major studios are increasingly opting to film television shows and movies outside California, such as Canada and overseas in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, as well as to domestic production hubs in Georgia and New Mexico.Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is also reportedly considering relocating Paramount’s headquarters — which could divert billions of production dollars from California — while production of scripted television shows in Los Angeles is down nearly 30% since 2019, according to Luminate data.JOE ROGAN MOCKS GAVIN NEWSOM FOR DISMISSING GROWING STATE PROBLEMS AS LA FILM PRODUCTION CRATERS"Why did it take so long for the political establishment to take this seriously? Because Hollywood's business has been leeching away for the last three decades," entertainment lawyer Jonathan Handel told Fox News Digital.StageRunner founder and CEO Jason Fisher, formerly head of production at Disney, Paramount and AMC, said he began noticing the rise of runaway production over two decades ago."Production has been slowly and then speeding up really over the last two years, leaving California for other states and other countries and really nothing was done until it was almost too late," he told Fox News Digital.Several popular episodic television series were filmed outside of California, including Paramount’s "Landman" in Fort Worth, Texas and Netflix’s "Stranger Things" in Atlanta, Georgia.Despite LA-based studios’ efforts to film locally, the substantial savings available outside of California made production in the Golden State increasingly difficult to justify."When I worked at the studios, we talked about a lot.
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Gavin Newsom says Hollywood is returning to its glory after years of production fleeing Los Angeles for cheaper filming locations, but industry experts tell Fox News Digital the sector is still reeling from production "decimation.""We need a major rescue, like, immediately," Shadowcast Pictures owner Jay Ellison said.Major studios are increasingly opting to film television shows and movies outside California, such as Canada and overseas in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, as well as to domestic production hubs in Georgia and New Mexico.Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is also reportedly considering relocating Paramount’s headquarters — which could divert billions of production dollars from California — while production of scripted television shows in Los Angeles is down nearly 30% since 2019, according to Luminate data.JOE ROGAN MOCKS GAVIN NEWSOM FOR DISMISSING GROWING STATE PROBLEMS AS LA FILM PRODUCTION CRATERS"Why did it take so long for the political establishment to take this seriously? Because Hollywood's business has been leeching away for the last three decades," entertainment lawyer Jonathan Handel told Fox News Digital.StageRunner founder and CEO Jason Fisher, formerly head of production at Disney, Paramount and AMC, said he began noticing the rise of runaway production over two decades ago."Production has been slowly and then speeding up really over the last two years, leaving California for other states and other countries and really nothing was done until it was almost too late," he told Fox News Digital.Several popular episodic television series were filmed outside of California, including Paramount’s "Landman" in Fort Worth, Texas and Netflix’s "Stranger Things" in Atlanta, Georgia.Despite LA-based studios’ efforts to film locally, the substantial savings available outside of California made production in the Golden State increasingly difficult to justify."When I worked at the studios, we talked about a lot. ‘What could we do to keep the show here?’ And when you get to that place where you're just saving millions of dollars by going to some place other than California, they're just aren't any other levers to pull," Fisher said.FROM ‘SCREAM’ TO STREAM: JAMIE KENNEDY REVEALS HOW HOLLYWOOD LOST ITS WAY AND WHY HE WON'T GIVE UP ON LAThe decline in production has sent ripple effects across California’s economy, with more than 80 production service businesses closing in Los Angeles since 2022 became of a lack of work and industry strikes, according to CBS News.Experts say production work has been hemorrhaging for decades and that Los Angeles has lost tens of thousands of film and television jobs over the years."It is decimation, and it's not just like the film rental companies, the production companies — it trickles down to the restaurants, the people supported by the industry here," Ellison said.Ellison’s camera rental house, Shadowcast Pictures, provided cameras, lighting and other filmmaking gear to production crews for nearly two decades before becoming one of the businesses forced to close."We've been injecting our own money to keep the company going, I know lots of others are doing that and it came to the point where we finally had to say enough because we've had three years of downturn," Ellison told Fox News Digital.Industry workers who once spent 15 to 20 days a month on set are now working as few as one to 10 days, if they are "lucky," Ellison said. He added that many are hoping to secure jobs on long-running television series in search of greater stability."I have networks of friends who are actors, who are crew members, who are directors, who are writers trying to get scripts sold.
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- Gavin Newsom says Hollywood is returning to its glory after years of production fleeing Los Angeles for cheaper filming locations, but industry experts tell Fox News Digital the sector is still reeling from production "decimation.""We need a major rescue, like, immediately," Shadowcast Pictures owner Jay Ellison said.Major studios are increasingly opting to film television shows and movies outside California, such as Canada and overseas in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, as well as to domestic production hubs in Georgia and New Mexico.Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison is also reportedly considering relocating Paramount’s headquarters — which could divert billions of production dollars from California — while production of scripted television shows in Los Angeles is down nearly 30% since 2019, according to Luminate data.JOE ROGAN MOCKS GAVIN NEWSOM FOR DISMISSING GROWING STATE PROBLEMS AS LA FILM PRODUCTION CRATERS"Why did it take so long for the political establishment to take this seriously? Because Hollywood's business has been leeching away for the last three decades," entertainment lawyer Jonathan Handel told Fox News Digital.StageRunner founder and CEO Jason Fisher, formerly head of production at Disney, Paramount and AMC, said he began noticing the rise of runaway production over two decades ago."Production has been slowly and then speeding up really over the last two years, leaving California for other states and other countries and really nothing was done until it was almost too late," he told Fox News Digital.Several popular episodic television series were filmed outside of California, including Paramount’s "Landman" in Fort Worth, Texas and Netflix’s "Stranger Things" in Atlanta, Georgia.Despite LA-based studios’ efforts to film locally, the substantial savings available outside of California made production in the Golden State increasingly difficult to justify."When I worked at the studios, we talked about a lot.
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Newsom says film tax incentives are bringing Hollywood home but industry experts warn it may be 'too late'
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