The numbers are pretty shocking. LA is no longer the production hub it once was, and always has been.
It started slowly with productions popping up in New Mexico, Atlanta and Canada. But now, the shit has really hit the fan.
Over 7,000 days of production were logged in mid-2021 in Los Angeles.
That number has gone down to about 3,000 according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The town is struggling, and not all of this is due to productions moving to other cities and countries.
There's a general contraction in Hollywood across the board. There is less being shot than there has in a long time.
The numbers are scary, and if LA and California don't do something to attract productions back, it's only going to get worse.
So, that's the case for productions, but...
What About TV Writers?
Even in the before days - before the strikes and before the pandemic - when shows shot in other cities, their writers' rooms were still firmly entrenched in LA.
Right now, there's not much shooting, and there aren't many TV writers' rooms.
But when they do come back, I believe these writing jobs will, for the most part, remain in LA.
Here's why...
The Return To The Office
Over the past two years, the vast majority of businesses that had converted their workforce to remote have scraped their employees back into the office.
It was gradual. Two days in the office, then three, then mandatory five days a week in the office.
And what was the reason here?
Control. It may have been hidden under the guise of creativity, or work culture, or enhancing the free flow of ideas. But it was control. Pure and simple.
The Powers That Be want their subjects close. And when it comes to TV, that means the executives overseeing things want their subjects, the writers, close. They writers they hire will be people they know from around town. And they will be kept close to make sure they can oversee their interests at all times.
There are huge economic upsides right now to producing TV and movies outside of LA.
There are currently no economic upsides to having your writers' room further away from the execs paying them.
Therefore, I believe, that even as LA loses its production jobs, until studios start popping up outside of LA, the writing jobs will remain here.
