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Work is leaving Hollywood


Jeff Wexler

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-from LA Times writer Richard Verrier

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Workers on the set of the new CBS show "Vegas" in Santa Clarita. The Los Angeles area is seeing an exodus in production of one-hour TV dramas, which are prized because they use bigger crews and have bigger budgets. (Kirk McKoy, Los Angeles Times / August 15, 2012)

By Richard Verrier, Los Angeles Times

August 15, 2012

The five broadcast television networks will be rolling out 23 new one-hour dramas for the upcoming season. That would normally be good business for Hollywood's hometown industry — with bookings for soundstages and plenty of work for the costumers, camera operators and caterers needed to put a show on the air.

But not this year. Just two of the 23 new fall and midseason shows will be shot in Los Angeles County, as cost-conscious producers seek tax-friendly production havens in New York, North Carolina, Georgia and other states.

The exodus has been going on for years, especially in feature film production. But television dramas such as "CSI", "Criminal Minds" and "Desperate Housewives" have long been anchors of Los Angeles' entertainment economy, helping to offset the decade-long slide in moviemaking. One 22-episode-a-year network series has a budget of $60 million and generates 840 direct and indirect jobs, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

That economic bang is beginning to fizzle. Fewer than 10% of new network dramas this season are based in Los Angeles, down from 50% in 2010 and nearly 80% in 2005.

"The loss of hourlong dramas is very significant," said Kevin Klowden, director of the California Center at the Milken Institute, noting that a typical drama shoots for eight to nine months, compared with just six to eight weeks for a film. "This is the heart of television production. If this continues, you're going to see a direct impact on the employment base of Los Angeles."

Though L.A. still hosts the bulk of new half-hour comedies and reality shows, dramas are more prized because they use bigger crews and have bigger budgets. That translates to more spending in the local economy.

Repercussions from the downturn are being felt across the local film and TV industry, putting the squeeze on prop houses and other businesses that rely on production and creating growing hardship for the grips, location managers and other crew members who are finding it harder to get work in the entertainment capital of the world.

David Henke is one of them. For most of his career, the 52-year-old location manager rarely went more than a month without a job. The Sylmar resident earned more than $100,000 a year working on such TV shows as "Nip/Tuck" and "Deadliest Warrior."

But Henke hasn't worked in more than a year, squeaking by on unemployment checks and what's left of his retirement savings.

"Everything has gone out of town," he said.

Like many in Hollywood, Henke has family members who are also in the business, and they're hurting too.

His wife, Carol, who runs a film location business, was forced to close her office after receipts dropped from $300,000 in 2010 to $40,000 last year. And Henke's brother-in-law, Cliff Rogers, a longtime production supervisor and producer, has been jobless for a year.

Rogers, 60, who began his career working for the late TV producer Aaron Spelling, moved to Georgia last year to work on the drama Necessary Roughness but lost his job when new producers came in and hired a different crew. When he returned to Los Angeles, he found there was no work.

"The bank foreclosed on my house in April, I declared bankruptcy a year ago, [and] I'm living in my mother-in-law's house," said Rogers, who has been joined by his two grown sons, one of them an assistant director who is also out of work. "Every time I call one of my friends, they say: 'Not right now, Cliff. We'll keep you in mind.'"

Bill Myer lost his home too, and now shares an apartment in Van Nuys with six colleagues who are in similar straits. The 52-year-old makeup artist used to earn $150,000 a year working on movies like "Cast Away" and TV series including "Baywatch."

"I'm about ready to go hit the highway, stick out my thumb and move to Louisiana just so I can go back to work," he said. "It's like Hollywood has run away from home."

Myer and others have gotten help from the Actors Fund, a nonprofit group that provides assistance to distressed entertainment industry workers. Last year, the fund awarded $1 million in emergency aid for such things as buying groceries and paying rent — about triple the amount in 2007, said Keith McNutt, director of the Western region for the fund.

"We're seeing a lot of people who just aren't making it anymore," he said.

Although precise figures are not available, some of Hollywood's below-the-line unions say at least 30% of their members are unemployed.

"The impact has been drastic on our members," said Ed Brown, business agent for Local 44 of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which represents prop makers, set decorators and special-effects workers. "The loss of one-hour dramashas caused a major spike in unemployment because they crew so many people."

IATSE and other entertainment unions have been lobbying lawmakers in Sacramento to extend California's film tax credit program, which is set to expire next year. But the program has struggled to compete with more generous incentives in other states. New York offers four times as much in tax credits as California and recently tripled the credit for post-production work.

New York had a record year for TV production last year and is on track to repeat in 2012. More than half a dozen new fall and midseason network dramas are expected to shoot in New York this season, including the CW's "The Carrie Diaries", CBS's "Elementary" and ABC's "666Park Avenue"

At least seven new broadcast dramas will be shooting in Canada, including ABC's "Zero Hour," in Montreal, and "Hannibal" and Beauty and the Beast, both in Toronto, which also hosts the new drama "The L.A. Complex," about a group of actors trying to make it in Hollywood. Other new dramas are being filmed in North Carolina, Georgia, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Tennessee.

To be sure, creative reasons also factor in the decision-making. It made sense to shoot "Dallas" in Texas because the story is based there. But tax credits offered by Texas were also important, said Michael Robin, an executive producer on the series, who is also a producer on the new cable crime drama "Longmire," which is set in Wyoming but filmed in New Mexico, partly to take advantage of tax credits.

"The cost of producing these shows goes up every year, but the bottom line doesn't," said Robin, who is also producing the new cable drama "MajorCrimes" locally. "The tax credits help close the gap."

"The reality is, as long as Sacramento continues to balk at having real incentives, we're going to continue to lose the most lucrative forms of television and film production," said Paul Audley, president of FilmL.A. Inc., the nonprofit group that handles permits for the city and county. "We're losing tens of thousands of jobs to New York."

Even before the latest TV downturn, the local jobs climate was bleak, partly because of studio cutbacks caused by the recession but also because of the long-term effects of production flight. A report by the Milken Institute estimated that California lost more than 36,000 film industry jobs and $2.4 billion in wages between 1997 and 2008, which it attributed mainly to the effects of so-called runaway production.

Some local craftspeople are making contingency plans.

Elion Olson, an assistant director on "The Defenders" and "Criminal Minds," has worked sporadically since Christmas. When he and his wife ran out of money to buy groceries, they moved to Alabama temporarily to live with her parents.

The 41-year-old North Hollywood resident recently returned to L.A. to work part time on an ABC show. But he isn't banking on a long-term career in the business.

He recently began taking courses to become a scuba diving instructor.

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This is another great reason to make 695 a nationwide local, just like 600 (camera) did. It makes chasing after these jobs easier. Yeah, I know you have to be a resident of the film state for incentives to work for you but I'd take up residency for a job.

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The golden years are gone in Los Angeles. The law markers have just made it a very unfriendly place to do business. this is not new news at all! nor is it different then the struggles of joblessness in the nation. honestly it really doesnt make much sense to shot in CA when there are other booming " we'll do anything to get you here " business friendly states. CA is on the road to FUBAR pretty much every industry with high taxes and crippling cap and trade laws that are coming. hell they are going to make driving a car here a crime!

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Governor Brown and the State legislators could pass an incentive bill that could match Georgia or Louisiana's film incentives any time they want. But they all have their heads up their collective asses in pandering to the public employee unions and every other lobbyist so they can keep THEIR jobs.

It's our own fault, we keep electing and re-electing the same fools over and over.

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" This is another great reason to make 695 a nationwide local, just like 600 (camera) did. "

it is not something that L695 can do... it has to be done by the IATSE (HQ NY). it was Tom Short's decision to merge all the camera locals into one National Local, and he did the same for Postproduction, including moving post sound members to the national Local 700.

The pathway for 695 would be to merge it into L600, but that, too would be a HQ decision.

" It's our own fault, we keep electing and re-electing the same fools over and over. "

this also applies to the IA...

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The problem is that we have waited too long. No California incentive will ever match the other states, and the workforce and resources in those area have matured to being creatively competitive. Sound stages are now considered a luxury. Many of these new shows (and features) rely on exteriors and practical locations, as well as shooting in empty office buildings and warehouses found nationwide. The crew and equipment are on wheels. There's no incentive to have a "base" any longer, since quality is no longer a concern for the suits at the top.

The only good news is that Disney and some others have built and upgraded stages to accommodate TV work. It just means the competition for the jobs will be stronger.

Perhaps my departure to the UK will happen sooner than I planned.

Robert

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The other moral to this story is don't live beyond your means.

If you've been making $100-$150k for years, and you end up losing everything, then I hate to point out the fact that you were living way beyond your means.

I learned my lesson with this last economic meltdown.

Other than a house, I will never, ever buy anything on credit again. No matter how cheap it is.

If I can't buy it with cash. I'm not buying it. Period.

No car leases, no "buy now pay in 12 months".

Cash only.

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Amen brother. Easiest way to stay afloat is to be nimble. The days of "build it and they will come" is over.

The other moral to this story is don't live beyond your means.

If you've been making $100-$150k for years, and you end up losing everything, then I hate to point out the fact that you were living way beyond your means.

I learned my lesson with this last economic meltdown.

Other than a house, I will never, ever buy anything on credit again. No matter how cheap it is.

If I can't buy it with cash. I'm not buying it. Period.

No car leases, no "buy now pay in 12 months".

Cash only.

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Just as the internet and iTunes ruined the music industry, now their coming after the film business.

I don't agree that the internet and iTunes killed the music industry. I think the music industry killed the music industry (and in many ways, we're better for it). Years and years of corporate greed and an unwillingness to change with the tides ultimately led to the downfall of the "big labels". These were the very labels that for years garnered massive profits while paying the artists a pittance. When file sharing started to take off, instead of getting behind it and finding ways to make it profitable for everyone, they went on the attack. They distanced themselves even further from the artists and the consumers. Musicians today are capable of seeing a far greater percentage of their music sales now that the label machine is largely out of the way.

In some ways, the film and television studios learned from the mistakes of the record labels. Many were quick to make content licensing deals with companies such as Hulu, iTunes, and Netflix. Needless to say, the film industry will make their own mistakes and learn their own lessons as they trudge forward. I think it's an interesting stance to villianize companies like iTunes (for this, at least). I think we are personally accountable for how we chose to consume.

Sorry for the tangent. I don't want to derail a topic that hits home to so many here.

Best,

Wyatt

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Yeah, maybe a separate topic for iTunes. Selling songs for $.99 doesn't help out the artist that has only a 10% deal on final sale. When someone had to purchase an "album" then the record company and the artist both benefitted. Selling only songs, and at a reduced rate, lowers the profit margin, and the greatest margin that still exists, is between the record company and the artist. Which is why now young folks are taking their music directly to the internet, and avoiding the record company all together.

I stand by iTunes ruining the music industry, as we once knew it. Sure as a consumer it's better for us, but not for the artist, at least not now.

RVD

BS

I'm going to take this to a new thread

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RVD on your original post....it sounds a little negative and depressing...but your probably right. I recently talked with a shooter who is traveling all over the country making probably 450 a day with his dslr shooting national walmart spots (no grip+underpaid sound+low-no PA). He told me that some hundi is better than no hundi. Is there a better option for us soundies? Post work is even worse in getting paid and I didn't even know the music recording industry really existed anymore.

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Yeah, forget the music industry, it pains me whenever Inhear abort someone spending $80k at full sail to be a recording engineer.

Yes, they walk away with a degree. But it means nothing.

I know multi-platinum producers who used to get $150 k as a budget for a newly signed band.

Now they are doing albums for $15k all in.

For audio post there are really 2 places to be at this point. London and LA. New York has gotten real tough.

Or Mumbai if you speak the lingo.

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New York has gotten real tough.

I'm hoping this helps a bit.

http://www.studiodai...duction-credit/

"The Post New York Alliance (www.postnewyork.org) is pleased to announce that Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed into law a bill which triples the EMPIRE STATE FILM POST PRODUCTION CREDIT from 10% to 30% (35% for Upstate). It is effective immediately."

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IMO, so long as legislators are willing to look at the numbers and compete, state incentives benefit the entire country. I live in Portland, OR, and for a few months, we had 3 TV series being shot simultaneously. That seems like a small number comapared to LA, but for a town this size, it was unprecedented. Our incentive brought enough work here that I was able to join IATSE. Also, there is the "rising tide" effect: even if you're not working any of the shows, they occupy enough crew that the entire town stays busy with all the other production.

I sympathize with folks who are losing jobs, but right now, Oregon is working, and I'm very grateful for it.

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Well, California has just passed the extension. So there's only really about a 5-10% difference.

And as far as post goes, it's just not much of an incentive for producers and directors to be away from their homes and families for months while they finish a big budget film. I know we tried to get the post of all the shows and movies that were being shot in Vancouver, to stay in Vancouver. And very little of it ever did. Pretty much all of teh bigger TV shows don't even stay in Vancouver for post.

Shooting is one thing. But to then stay months and months in another city, with the costs that go along with that, well, seeing as especially audio post, is such a minute part of the budget, it's just not worth it most of the time. Unless the director is from New York.

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The problem is the highly tax? I don't think so.

If you make a $100.000+ one year and you bought new car, new house etc

and you don't see "that goes job" (metafora) it's your problem.

Same in Greece: 4 years ago to much money, all of us are happy with this. (not especially me).

Buying new cars, new houses etc and then one night "Welcome IMF and EE". All of these guys

who bought new houses he's lost. Because they can't "see" the real problem. And the real problem

is not the tax. The problem is "where come this money?". I mean this huge money will stopped one day.

And your advantage is to "see" when.

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The other moral to this story is don't live beyond your means.

If you've been making $100-$150k for years, and you end up losing everything, then I hate to point out the fact that you were living way beyond your means.

I learned my lesson with this last economic meltdown.

Other than a house, I will never, ever buy anything on credit again. No matter how cheap it is.

If I can't buy it with cash. I'm not buying it. Period.

No car leases, no "buy now pay in 12 months".

Cash only.

Preach it man, that is exactly how I want to live my life. Exactly how.

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