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For months, people have been asking a question that no one could answer: “When will the entertainment industry in Los Angeles rebound?” In fact, the question has hung in the air for so long that several professionals have started to doubt we’ll ever see the city reach the production heights of its pre-pandemic days again. But we finally have some good news as Hudson Pacific Properties, the largest landlord of soundstages on the west coast, shared their stats with CoStar last week.
Numerous Problems Facing the Los Angeles Entertainment Industry
The average Angeleno is well-informed on the woes that crippled the city’s once seemingly unsinkable entertainment industry. With television and film production at the city’s core, every industry feels the impact when entertainment flounders. But over the last several years, the obstacles to production have seemed relentless.
First, the pandemic knocked production out for an extended period, sending the city’s industry to a grinding halt. This was followed by strikes, streaming services dialing back their production orders around the world, and more competitive tax incentives from competing states. Then, as things dared to show promise, the Los Angeles wildfires shut production down citywide again. At the time of writing, California’s entertainment industry tax incentives are still sorely lacking, resulting in more and more productions leaving the city.
An Upward Turn
One only needs to look at Hudson Pacific’s losses in 2024 to see how sobering the situation has become. The soundstage giant lost $167 million in the fourth quarter. Much of this is owed to a loss in value of their Quixote subdivision, which provides productions with equipment such as lighting all the way up to talent trailers.
Yet, despite owning and managing 2.1 million square feet of soundstages across Los Angeles and New York City, Hudson Pacific is optimistic about the future of the entertainment industry. And though the growth they shared with CoStar is minor, the company believes other factors indicate the city still has much to look forward to in the entertainment sector. Prior to the wildfires, 86 shows were in production on Hudson Pacific’s properties, a gain of two shows over the preceding quarter. Likewise, 77% of the company’s properties were leased, up from the previous quarter by a single percentage point.
Other Factors Inspiring Optimism
It may not seem like a reason to celebrate. But Hudson Pacific executives claim the company has been receiving a notable increase in leasing inquiries and more sizable requests. For example, new productions are submitting orders for multiple soundstages along with comprehensive lighting and equipment packages that would be handled by Quixote.
Streamers are also beginning to turn a profit, which the company believes will reinforce the growth of the city’s entertainment industry. Finally, pressure for the state to provide more competitive tax incentives for filming and production continues to mount. Executives at Hudson Pacific are confident that these incentives will pass, leading to further improvements as they go into effect.
A Group Effort to Restore an Industry
Of course, Hudson Pacific isn’t just idly sitting by waiting for the chips to fall as they may. As a member of the California Production Coalition, they’ve been actively involved in restoring LA’s entertainment industry to its former glory. The California Production Coalition aligns with similar organizations to promote local production by pushing for additional state and civic incentives.
An unrelated organization, Bid for LA, shares this mission, focusing on restoring the advertising side of local production. Recognizing that so many entertainment industry gig workers resided in Altadena at the time of the wildfires, Bid for LA took extra inspiration from helping people through the tragedy. Their website is well-organized to help struggling professionals find industry opportunities. They even offer a section with GoFundMe links that directly benefit those directly impacted by the wildfires.
Numbers Don’t Lie
Hudson Pacific Properties has a vested interest in LA’s entertainment industry succeeding. But even taking that into account, numbers don’t lie. However modest their increase from last quarter, it’s still an increase. And right now, workers who have been asked to “survive until 2025” need some good news for a change.
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