Red Carpet Goes Cold: Blockbuster A-Listers Weather LA’s Production Storm

Olivia Bennett, 11/26/2025Hollywood’s crown slips but refuses to fall—LA’s film and TV production slumps, but true to form, the city’s creative heart throbs on. Glitz meets grit as Tinseltown plots its next act, proving once more you can’t keep a comeback queen down.

Thinking back, the wounds are still fresh from last year’s historic double strike, which all but locked the studio gates with the finality of a Hollywood divorce. That led to a bruising 20% production drop—a drama in itself. If the whirring of generators in the hills feels quiet lately, those numbers are the reason. The industry’s market share in LA is on a gentle slide, dribbling away from 22% to just 18%. Yes, there’s a lot of hand-wringing in talent agent offices lately.

Dial up the scope, and things look just as bleak nationwide: scripted project releases took a 13.4% tumble, down from 990 to 857. Los Angeles, once considered untouchable, felt the sting worse than most—a gut-punch 31% decline in local releases. Trying to romanticize these stats is a stretch; even the city’s best PR spin doctors can’t quite make a 31% drop sound sexy.

These aren’t just abstract numbers for the trades to dissect over brunch. In LA, every quiet soundstage, every unstruck set—the kind where a thousand dreams have been rehearsed and rewritten—sends ripples through the local economy. It’s not just showbiz glitz; it’s the neighbor who grips a boom mic on Tuesday, the craft service pro keeping a small army fed on Wednesday, and the screenwriter weighed down by a dozen rewrite notes. That familiar churn has faded, leaving an oddly restful—almost anxious—silence in its place.

Of course, the state hasn’t exactly folded its hand. California expanded its tax credit program earlier this year, tossing $750 million onto the table, and broadening what types of projects can qualify. Cue the hopeful sighs from accountants and location managers eager to get the band back together. Optimists have painted this as the cavalry arriving, but as any seasoned producer will tell you, there’s a difference between a budget boost and a creative renaissance.

Then again, Hollywood isn’t one for tidy narratives. Despite the general downturn, the theatrical movie business in LA has stubbornly refused to dim its marquee lights. There’s actually been an uptick of 13% in locally made movies meant for theaters—not once but two years running. It’s an unexpected bit of sparkle in a report otherwise hemmed in by gray. On the other side, streaming titles have begun to lose a bit of steam, down a modest 3.5%. TV movies, meanwhile, didn’t so much bow out as tumble off the front of the stage, clocking in at a 35% drop.

FilmLA itself puts it all rather dryly, noting, “The latest numbers hit amid an assist from the State of California through an expanded Film and Television Tax Credit Program passed earlier this year that increased the annual pot available to $750 million and expanded eligible categories." That’s not exactly the stuff of Oscar speeches, and certainly not the inspiring press release execs might be craving heading into 2025.

Still, LA holds onto its crown as the leading jurisdiction for scripted TV destined for American screens—a healthy 27% share. That’s quite a lead over the energetic upstarts: Georgia (hey there, Atlanta), the unflagging energy of the UK, the rugged beauty of British Columbia, New York with its glassy intensity, and that perennial wild card, Hungary. Yet resting on laurels has rarely worked for this city. Every time a new market gains ground, Hollywood finds itself playing defense, forced to prove its worth as not only a capital of glamour, but of grit.

And every data dip comes with a twist. Look past the headline numbers and the city—surprisingly—claims more locally shot theatrical releases and streaming movies than last year (the latter rising from 17 to 29, a number that would make any film student’s heart beat a little faster). A glimmer in an otherwise clouded sky, or perhaps just evidence that chaos occasionally breeds creativity.

But not everything is rosy backstage. Scripted TV series—the bread and butter of countless writers, grips, and sound folk—tumbled 27% in LA, outpacing the national fall of 15%. The old backlots, haunted by ghosts of Monroe and the youthful awe of Spielberg, are seeing fewer late-night lights, their trailers deserted. The effect is palpable, even from a distance—you can almost sense the pause in possibility, the nerves humming beneath the city’s surface.

As for streaming movies? Funny how fortunes shift. Where not long ago, the word “content” reigned like some digital deity, studios now appear to be counting overhead and trimming ambition. The myth that content can flow forever, cheap and easy, is giving way to the less enchanting truth: budgets matter, incentives shift, and the alchemy of success remains elusive.

So what’s left for a city that eats reinvention for breakfast? Los Angeles’ aura is intact, but no longer unchallenged. Australia’s cinematic sunlight, Hungary’s painterly vistas, New York’s swagger—all compete for projects once considered locked to LA. Perhaps the monopoly is over; the magic, instead, earned year after year, comeback after comeback.

FilmLA, in its typically clinical prose, reminds us: “The report is to quantify the amount of scripted content released each year, and to further determine the percentage of these releases that are filmed in Los Angeles and in other locales.” Hardly a headline for a Variety cover story. Still, inside that statement—the unspoken question, the anticipation, the worry—beats the pulse of the world’s entertainment capital.

Beneath each data point is a tangled web of people: a key grip double-checking call times, a producer crunching numbers into the early hours, a chorus of actors hoping for a “yes.” The numbers offer a sobering script, but LA’s greatest trick has always been improvisation. Fires, recessions, disasters both natural and self-inflicted—somehow, the city has always found a way to dust off the sequins and roll out the red carpet once more.

Down, but never out. If the pattern holds, 2025’s grand premiere may be just around the corner.

Los Angeles—a city where ambition is poured over iced lattes and every side street feels like the waiting room for the next big star. Yet 2024 is shaping up to be something of a cinematic cliffhanger, and not the kind that leaves you desperate for a sequel. FilmLA’s new Scripted Content Study doesn’t pull any punches. Production in the world's most famous entertainment capital has slipped by a rather sobering 14.2%, a drop that's less of a plot twist and more of a plot problem.Thinking back, the wounds are still fresh from last year’s historic double strike, which all but locked the studio gates with the finality of a Hollywood divorce. That led to a bruising 20% production drop—a drama in itself. If the whirring of generators in the hills feels quiet lately, those numbers are the reason. The industry’s market share in LA is on a gentle slide, dribbling away from 22% to just 18%. Yes, there’s a lot of hand-wringing in talent agent offices lately.Dial up the scope, and things look just as bleak nationwide: scripted project releases took a 13.4% tumble, down from 990 to 857. Los Angeles, once considered untouchable, felt the sting worse than most—a gut-punch 31% decline in local releases. Trying to romanticize these stats is a stretch; even the city’s best PR spin doctors can’t quite make a 31% drop sound sexy.These aren’t just abstract numbers for the trades to dissect over brunch. In LA, every quiet soundstage, every unstruck set—the kind where a thousand dreams have been rehearsed and rewritten—sends ripples through the local economy. It’s not just showbiz glitz; it’s the neighbor who grips a boom mic on Tuesday, the craft service pro keeping a small army fed on Wednesday, and the screenwriter weighed down by a dozen rewrite notes. That familiar churn has faded, leaving an oddly restful—almost anxious—silence in its place.Of course, the state hasn’t exactly folded its hand. California expanded its tax credit program earlier this year, tossing $750 million onto the table, and broadening what types of projects can qualify. Cue the hopeful sighs from accountants and location managers eager to get the band back together. Optimists have painted this as the cavalry arriving, but as any seasoned producer will tell you, there’s a difference between a budget boost and a creative renaissance.Then again, Hollywood isn’t one for tidy narratives. Despite the general downturn, the theatrical movie business in LA has stubbornly refused to dim its marquee lights. There’s actually been an uptick of 13% in locally made movies meant for theaters—not once but two years running. It’s an unexpected bit of sparkle in a report otherwise hemmed in by gray. On the other side, streaming titles have begun to lose a bit of steam, down a modest 3.5%. TV movies, meanwhile, didn’t so much bow out as tumble off the front of the stage, clocking in at a 35% drop.FilmLA itself puts it all rather dryly, noting, “The latest numbers hit amid an assist from the State of California through an expanded Film and Television Tax Credit Program passed earlier this year that increased the annual pot available to $750 million and expanded eligible categories." That’s not exactly the stuff of Oscar speeches, and certainly not the inspiring press release execs might be craving heading into 2025.Still, LA holds onto its crown as the leading jurisdiction for scripted TV destined for American screens—a healthy 27% share. That’s quite a lead over the energetic upstarts: Georgia (hey there, Atlanta), the unflagging energy of the UK, the rugged beauty of British Columbia, New York with its glassy intensity, and that perennial wild card, Hungary. Yet resting on laurels has rarely worked for this city. Every time a new market gains ground, Hollywood finds itself playing defense, forced to prove its worth as not only a capital of glamour, but of grit.And every data dip comes with a twist. Look past the headline numbers and the city—surprisingly—claims more locally shot theatrical releases and streaming movies than last year (the latter rising from 17 to 29, a number that would make any film student’s heart beat a little faster). A glimmer in an otherwise clouded sky, or perhaps just evidence that chaos occasionally breeds creativity.But not everything is rosy backstage. Scripted TV series—the bread and butter of countless writers, grips, and sound folk—tumbled 27% in LA, outpacing the national fall of 15%. The old backlots, haunted by ghosts of Monroe and the youthful awe of Spielberg, are seeing fewer late-night lights, their trailers deserted. The effect is palpable, even from a distance—you can almost sense the pause in possibility, the nerves humming beneath the city’s surface.As for streaming movies? Funny how fortunes shift. Where not long ago, the word “content” reigned like some digital deity, studios now appear to be counting overhead and trimming ambition. The myth that content can flow forever, cheap and easy, is giving way to the less enchanting truth: budgets matter, incentives shift, and the alchemy of success remains elusive.So what’s left for a city that eats reinvention for breakfast? Los Angeles’ aura is intact, but no longer unchallenged. Australia’s cinematic sunlight, Hungary’s painterly vistas, New York’s swagger—all compete for projects once considered locked to LA. Perhaps the monopoly is over; the magic, instead, earned year after year, comeback after comeback.FilmLA, in its typically clinical prose, reminds us: “The report is to quantify the amount of scripted content released each year, and to further determine the percentage of these releases that are filmed in Los Angeles and in other locales.” Hardly a headline for a Variety cover story. Still, inside that statement—the unspoken question, the anticipation, the worry—beats the pulse of the world’s entertainment capital.Beneath each data point is a tangled web of people: a key grip double-checking call times, a producer crunching numbers into the early hours, a chorus of actors hoping for a “yes.” The numbers offer a sobering script, but LA’s greatest trick has always been improvisation. Fires, recessions, disasters both natural and self-inflicted—somehow, the city has always found a way to dust off the sequins and roll out the red carpet once more.Down, but never out. If the pattern holds, 2025’s grand premiere may be just around the corner.