Why Hollywood jobs haven’t come back, in three charts

Good morning. It’s Thursday, June 13. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

• Since the pandemic and strikes, Hollywood jobs haven’t come back.
• Where is the EV market headed?
• Let your freak flag fly at this wildly inclusive weekly L.A. skate party.
• And here’s today’s e-newspaper

Three charts show why Hollywood jobs haven’t come back

Hollywood is in trouble. As if the pandemic, streaming wars and twin strikes weren’t enough to shake the industry’s finances, new box office data paint an even grimmer picture.

First-quarter box office figures still lag behind pre-pandemic levels while streaming services such as Netflix and Hulu and internet video platforms including YouTube and TikTok have become more popular than ever. New technologies are emerging. And the number of low-cost production sites outside of L.A. is growing.

“The very basis of what made Hollywood universally popular in the 20th century was the theatrical feature film. That seems to be ending now,” Jonathan Kuntz, a film historian at UCLA, told my colleagues Don Lee and Samantha Masunaga. “It seems the audience has moved on.”

Producers, distributors, design studios, prop manufacturers, agencies, caterers and more are all feeling the crunch.

Let’s take a look at Don and Samantha’s reporting on the factors at play.

Employment in L.A. County’s entertainment industry has reached its lowest level in more than three decades, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And Californians now make up less than 30% of the country’s entertainment industry workers, down from 40% ten years ago.

It’s one of the reasons why California has the highest unemployment rate in the country.

Even before the strikes, studios had cut back on staff and new shows in order to make up for financial losses incurred during the streaming wars.

In the L.A. area, production has not returned to pre-pandemic levels. In fact, it even lags behind last year. Film and TV production has dropped by about 7% globally in the first quarter of 2024 in comparison with the same period last year, according to tracking company ProdPro.

Even if production does make a comeback, it might not be in L.A. More and more film and TV production has moved to cities outside of California, including Atlanta and Vancouver, where costs are cheaper.

But it’s not just that production jobs haven’t returned to SoCal. Californians are losing out on out-of-state work, too.

In the past, film workers from Southern California would often supplement and lead projects in shooting locations outside L.A., said Kevin Klowden, an economics expert at the Milken Institute.

But, “if the productions are cut back, and budgets are trimmed,” said Klowden, “a major place to see those cuts is in not employing the workers from out of state who need their travel costs covered.”

Experts worry that film industry workers will leave Los Angeles or quit altogether.

Read more:

• With Hollywood shedding jobs, here is help for coping with the slowdown.
• How can film and TV workers cope with Hollywood slowdown? Financial experts offer tips.
• Hollywood slowdown taking mental health toll with TV, movie jobs scarce. ‘It wears on me.’
• Financial aid is available for film and TV workers struggling post-strike. Here’s where to look.
• As streaming becomes more expensive, Tubi cashes in on the value of free.

Today’s top stories

A technician checks equipment at the Clearway Daggett 3 Solar Power + Battery Energy Storage System in Daggett, Calif., in October 2023.

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Climate and environment

• As Earth warms, California gets federal funding to train climate-ready workforce.
• Should clean air and water be the right of every Californian? Not everybody thinks so.
• California voted to ban new diesel trucks at ports. Why did L.A. and Long Beach just add 1,000 more?
• Seeing smoke in the Southern California mountains? It may be a prescribed burn.

Politics

• Biden brings up ‘Dad’ a lot. Trump, not so much.
• One in five Latino voters are considering a third-party candidate for president, a poll indicates.
• Mayors London Breed and Karen Bass take different approaches to homelessness and drug use in their cities.

Housing

• New rental developments are changing the American Dream of suburban homeownership.
• Southern California home prices are at a record. Could relief be on the way?

Electric vehicles

• Early adopters, mainstream success, buyer’s remorse — where is the EV market headed?
• Fisker issues recall over more Ocean SUV software problems.

The film and TV industry

• Sony Pictures buys dine-in movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse.
• Emmys 2024: Drama races will feature new faces — by default.
• ‘Our workplace is a ball’: How ‘Bridgerton’ constructed Season 3’s elaborate ball scenes.
• Why Shari Redstone went cold on a Paramount sale to Skydance.

More big stories

• Inflation eased in May, but don’t expect relief on interest rates anytime soon.
• COVID cases are rising in L.A. County and California as new subvariants make a mark.
• Pro-Palestinian protesters take over Cal State L.A. building, stranding administrators inside.
• Scams tied to Ozempic and other new weight-loss drugs are surging. How to protect yourself.
• Police watchdog finds spying allegations against former LAPD chief ‘unfounded.’
• Silver Lake removes last traffic signs of its anti-gay past.
• Doctors and dentists at L.A. County-run hospitals will get bonuses under a tentative deal.
• A Napa Valley icon, whose California Cabernet shocked the wine world, dies at 95.
• UCLA has a new chancellor: Julio Frenk, University of Miami president, global health expert.
• Jerry West, Lakers legend and architect of ‘Showtime’ era, dies at 86.
• Engineers sue Elon Musk and SpaceX, saying the company mirrored his juvenile, crude X posts.

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Commentary and opinions

• Anita Chabria: California’s knock-down, drag-out fight over addiction and theft.
• Frank Shyong: A Korean American family called for help. An LAPD officer arrived, shot a mentally ill son.
• Jackie Calmes: We don’t need more evidence of Justice Alito’s bias, but we got it.
• Editorial: Homeless people are dumped all the time — Burbank police just got caught.
• Michael Hiltzik: The fast-food industry claims the California minimum wage law is costing jobs. Its numbers are fake.
• Steve Lopez: Suggesting that Biden has dementia? ‘If...shame still exists, I’d call it shameful.’

Today’s great reads

The aftermath of the fatal helicopter crash on the set of “Twilight Zone: The Movie” in Indian Dunes in July 1982.

(Boris Yaro/Los Angeles Times)

Cameras were rolling when a chopper killed an actor and two kids. Was A-list director to blame? John Landis was the first Hollywood director to face criminal charges for a death on set. The possible penalty was six years in prison. He and four others — his production manager, his associate producer, his special effects coordinator and the helicopter pilot — faced charges of involuntary manslaughter.

Other great reads

• Marijuana was supposed to help Thailand. Why is the country planning to ban it again?
• Modern death cafes are very much alive in L.A. Inside the radical movement.

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected].

For your downtime

Kayla Drake rides her roller skates during a meetup with Vibe Ride LA in Lot 4 South in Santa Monica. The skateboard meetup is open to all skills and other forms of wheels, is free and is an extremely friendly and inclusive group.

(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)

Going out

• 🛼 Looking for a beach party? This weekly L.A. skate meetup is all about the vibe.
• 🏳️‍🌈 Dodgers’ Pride Night is back. Will there be protests after 2023 event honored drag nuns?
• 🎷‘Mrs. Doubtfire,’ Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival and everything you need to know about arts and culture in L.A. this week.

Staying in

• 📖 Looking back at L.A.’s Chinatown to imagine a just future for Asian American communities in Laureen D. Hom’s new book “The Power of Chinatown: Searching for Spatial Justice in Los Angeles.”
• 🧑‍🍳 Here’s a recipe for crushed potatoes with leek-peppercorn butter.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

And finally ... from our archives

Former President Trump after his arraignment in federal court in Miami in 2023.

(Stephanie Keith / Getty Images)

On June 13, 2023, Donald Trump became the first former U.S. president to be charged with federal crimes as he was arraigned in a Miami courtroom. As Times reporters Sarah D. Wire and Summer Lin reported, he pleaded not guilty to 37 felony counts in a federal classified documents case.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Defne Karabatur, fellow
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor and Saturday reporter
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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