Getty ImagesHollywood may be known as Tinseltown, a dream factory at the heart of the global entertainment industry. But today, crews are more likely to film in Atlanta, London, Toronto and Sydney than in Los Angeles.
Cheaper labor and better tax credits have invited producers away from the city of angels for years. The wildfires that killed at least 29 people and destroyed thousands of homes were only added to this existential crisis.
Nowadays, many here are looking for states, studios and streaming services to boost local production.
“The best thing a studio can do to help rescue fire is to get work back for rank and file LA film workers,” says Mark Worthington, a production designer whose home burned down in Altadena.
“That’s what we want.”
Regan Morris/BBCWorthington already struggles to deal with the urban recession and notes that he hasn’t stepped into the LA set two years later. With the inevitable end of Covid, Strikes and Streaming Boom, many producers have tried to save money by skipping towns.
US production fell 26% last year, according to ProdPro, which tracks global production. In Australia and New Zealand, production rose 14%, in the UK, nearly 1%, and Canada rose 2.8%.
The loss is clearly stabbed. The Red Hot Chili Peppers are a band synonymous with Los Angeles, and there are many love songs in Angel City. However, the biopic about the band is being filmed in Atlanta, Georgia.
Before the fire, “Surviving to 25 Years” became a kind of mantra for Mr Worthington and other filmmakers who wanted a turn fortune. Instead, their town was burned.
“To create these fires in addition to these, it’s crushed in terms of how you see yourself as a creative individual,” Worthington says. “This has been piling up over the past few years, adding all the other difficulties and our own work situations, plus other horrible things.”
Hollywood studios and streaming services donated more than $700 million (£56 million) to relief efforts, turning the typical flashy awards season parties and red carpets into major fundraisers during this time.
Many say these efforts aren’t enough and Hollywood’s biggest companies need to commit to filming in LA.
But studios often don’t make business decisions based on the greater profits of workers in one city – ultimately, they care about revenue. The reality is that LA is expensive and the majority of industry work here is union protected. Therefore, they have high salaries and expensive medical care and pensions.
However, the studio is very sensitive to A-restors.
Megastar Vin Diesel helped ensure that filming for the latest Fast and Furious Movie in Los Angeles was finished.
“LA needs production to really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, what’s more,” Diesel said in an Instagram post.
“Los Angeles is where Fast and Furious began filming 25 years ago, and Fast is finally back home.”
Nearly 20,000 people, including actor Keanu Reeves, Zoo Deschanel and Kevin Bacon, have signed a petition to “stay in LA” to bring state leaders to cap on LA County’s production tax incentives. I was prompted to temporarily delete it.
This is part of a grassroots campaign that hopes to use the emergency in California to promote tax incentives for the next three years, heal filming in LA at a more affordable price, and heal Los Angeles. They also want the studio to commit to creating an additional 10% production in Los Angeles.
“We need to bring production back to LA and put LA back into work if we want to rebuild,” Smith says.
Staying in LABefore the fire, California’s Gov Newsom had already proposed more than twice the tax credit the state would offer to producers of films and television shows filmed in California. We changed our annual credit from $330 million to $750 million, which must be approved. It is the state legislature and may not be in effect until summer.
He says the incentive is good for the economy, with the California program generating more than $26 billion in economic activity and supporting more than 197,000 cast and crew jobs statewide.
If handed over, the grant is the most generous offering provided by US states except Georgia, and there is no limit to the amount given to annual productions. Staying in LA is what I want to raise the cap right now.
President Donald Trump also said he plans to make Hollywood great again with the help of actors John Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone.
It’s not yet clear what they have in mind – they didn’t agree to the interview – but some executives say that the instability caused by the Trump administration’s trade war risk-averse Hollywood He said he would make the studio nervous. The Canadian dollar has recently hit its 22-year low, making Canada even more appealing to Hollywood.
On a rainy day more than a month after the fire, production designer Worthington and his film editor partner Mindy Eliot hope that they will take some of the art when they evacuate. They were surprised that the cacti were regenerating again next to where their SUV melted.
“If this rain had fallen in January,” Elliott said.
He says that while it is important that tax credits amount to “corporate welfare” for giant companies, Worthington says that if LA wants to compete, they are the necessary evils — both Australia and the UK are now They have a more advantageous tax credit than California.
Smith, co-founder of his stay in LA, sings the decline of Hollywood productions in the collapse of Detroit.
“If you ruin that infrastructure and its legacy, it’s not that easy to build it again,” she says. “If you let Hollywood die, it could be forever.”
Others think it’s naive to think that any incentive can bring about a new golden age in Hollywood.
Pointing out what was his piano and what his drums were set in the music studio at his incinerated Topanga Canyon home, composer Matthew Ferraro, of what he and his wife lost. Wipe away the tears for it.
His once magnificent hilltop house is now tiled and ashes, and ashes and Ferraro are still shocked, and the idea of where he will sleep on Tuesday, not his future in Los Angeles It is said to be consumed in.
“I think it’s a hopeful thought for people who are still in love, like the Hollywood dreams of Yesterday, but that’s not how it works anymore,” says the incredible music. and Ferraro, who composed music for minority reports, says.
Submitted Photos/Jamie MorseJamie Morse’s house, about a mile away, was also on fire. Topanga Canyon has always captivated artists, musicians and dreamers. Morse left his wise day job to focus on making 2025 in Hollywood, working full time in comedy writing and performing.
She laughs when asked about the terrible timing – and says she is sad with everyone else in LA, but remains hopeful.
“Whether they’re performers or studio executives — people love the city,” Morse says. Morse now has temporary Airbnb rentals after staying with a friend’s house with his dog with comedy gigs and improvisation troupe The Ground.
Morse hopes that when she evacuated with her dog, she took away something more sentimental, like the Toronto Blue Jays T-shirt, which reminded her of her grandfather and her hometown of Canada. However, she is surprised that some of her notes and journals survived in some of her comedy writings.
“A place where the entire stone table is fragmentary is absolutely like it’s been destroyed and melted,” she said. “But the piece of paper survived… that’s really incredible.”
Does she think it’s destiny? A sign that she is meant to make it in Hollywood?
“I choose to believe this is a sign,” she said, adding, “There’s something beautiful and creative that comes out of this very silly time.”
