The was a time when Detroit was the automotive capital of the world. Because of the presence of Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler, the downtown area was booming.

Over time, the companies moved more of their operations to the suburbs. Eventually, many of the plants in the area closed and were moved elsewhere.

Is Los Angeles at risk of following the same path?

For anyone who looks at the industry, this certainly is the case.

In this article I discuss the downfall of Hollywood and how the movie and television industry is moving elsewhere.

Hollywood At Risk Of Becoming The Next Detroit

Hollywood is going to be the next Detroit. There is no way the entertainment epicenter remains where it was. The industry blew it, losing their stranglehold on film and television production.

It is to the point where even the industry publications are starting to question this.

Here we have a headline from the Hollywood Reporter:

The belief within the industry is that if the state (and city) would provide tax incentives to match what others are doing, the industry would not leave.

Unfortunately, this is not the reality. We will get to that in a moment.

Here is what occurred in just the last 12 months.

The three-month period from January to March saw losses in every category of production compared to the same period last year, according to a report from FilmLA, the nonprofit group that handles film permits for the city and county, issued on Monday. Shooting in L.A. decreased over 22 percent to 5,295 shoot days over that span.

We are not talking from the high of a few years ago. This is a comparison of 2024 to 2025, post strikes and COVID.

Yet still, we see more than 1/5the of production disappear.

Most alarming is the continuing plunge in shooting for TV shows, long a mainstay and anchor of production in L.A. Filming for the category is down an estimated 30 percent versus the same period last year and nearly 50 percent compared to the five year average. There were just 13 TV pilots that shot in L.A. last quarter, the lowest tally ever observed by FilmLA.

Source

The 50% from the 5 year average is concerning. However, the alarming stat is television production is down 30% from a year ago.

The End of Hollywood

Over the past couple years, I called for the end (death) of Hollywood. It is something that I keep writing about since we are witnessing its decline in real time.

The end is coming for one simple reason: California (and Los Angeles) is a pain in the ass.

Here is an example where regulation, licensing, fees, and taxes are all serving to drive business out. The movie studios are in trouble, for reasons beyond the scope of this article. It is why they are doing what they can to start cutting costs.

Naturally, this is hated by those who are involved in the industry. However, there is no way for these entities to survive on their present path. Of course, I maintain they will go under regardless of what they do but, again, that is for another article.

Simply put, other areas are rolling out the red carpet (pun intended) for production, having spent large sums of money building out the infrastructure the industry requires.

If the second quarter sees another 20% decline, we would be looking at under 5,000 shooting days. That is less than when the strikes were taking place.

“These jobs haven’t vanished, they’ve moved,” intoned ProdPro CEO Alex LoVerde, pointing out that the United States has seen a decrease in production of 26 percent since 2022. One beneficiary has been Australia, which has seen a gain of 14 percent.

Here we see how others are gaining.

The industry is in transition and it is California's loss.