Remember when Hollywood was synonymous with moviemaking and TV shows? The place where all the really good stuff was filmed/taped?
That is becoming little more than a fond memory.
Why? The reason has been discusse here many times already: the looney-tunes asylum that left wing politicians have turned California into.
Want the particulars? Here they are, from Gene Maddaus’ article for Variety:
Los Angeles has been the world’s entertainment capital for 100 years and still has an unmatched concentration of talent and infrastructure. But in an age of globalization, with easy international travel and communication, the city is losing its edge.
Everything costs more in L.A., starting with labor, due to the high cost of living and elaborate union agreements. Other states and countries have developed crew bases of their own, are more solicitous of producers’ needs and offer more generous incentives. Producers are also under pressure from the audience to deliver ever more spectacular experiences. Creating a premium product — at a price — often means going overseas.
These trends have been underway for 20 or 30 years. But since the end of the streaming bubble in 2022, America has lost 73,000 production jobs — two-thirds of them in Los Angeles — bringing the issue of foreign competition to a rapid boil.
In the chaotic race for L.A. mayor, the candidates have clashed over who lost Hollywood. At a debate in May, Councilmember Nithya Raman accused Bass of failing to cut red tape. “That’s what happened in ‘Baywatch,’” she said. “The city and county weren’t talking to each other.” Spencer Pratt, the reality star who conceded last week, bemoaned the sorry state of California’s incentive program: “Even Massachusetts has better tax credits than Hollywood.”
“In my understanding, California’s rebate is one of the least beneficial for anybody who is financing motion pictures and television,” says Charles Roven, co-founder of Atlas Entertainment and producer of “Oppenheimer” and “Wonder Woman.” “It’s capped and it has no above-the-line.”
California losing its pre-eminence in the movie industry? That couldn’t happen, could it?
If that’s what you think, I suggest you call Detroit and ask a few veteran automotive executives if they thought it could happen there. Then listen to their horror stories about what Detroit was to the auto industry not so many years ago, and what it is now.
In 1924, Al Jolson recorded the iconic song, “California Here I Come”, celebrating how wonderful it was to be there. It was a huge hit.
Now, 100 years later, the Democrat-dominated governance of California has managed to rewrite that as “California Away We Go”. And the entertainment industry’s dramatic falloff in recent years is just one of the countless examples demonstrating how much more accurate this new version is than the original.
I hope they’re happy with themselves.
