Entertainment Industry “Undergoing Once-In-A-Generation Changes” As LA’s Share Of Film & TV Employment Fell By 8% During Strikes, Study Finds

During the 2023 Hollywood strikes, the Los Angeles region’s share of national Film and TV employment fell to 27%, compared to 35% just the year before. The stat is from a new study, “Die Another Day”, Part 2 of Otis College Report on the Creative Economy. It also examines the evolution of the entertainment workforce, which has become less dependent on traditional film and TV business as well as more white collar and racially diverse in the streaming era.

Part 1 of the study conducted by Westwood Economics and Planning Associates, which also used a movie title for its name, “The Day After Tomorrow,” reported a 17% drop in entertainment industry employment from April to October 2023 as a result of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, compounded by the ongoing post Peak TV contraction.

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The followup report (you can read it in full here) focuses on the sea changes in the entertainment industry’s makeup, with the Film and TV industry accounting for 52% of Los Angeles County’s Greater Entertainment Industry, down from 64% in 2013.

As a result, employment is down 9.1% (12,900 jobs) from 2013 to 2024 for the traditional entertainment industries of Film and TV, Sound, Print Media and Broadcasting.

Meanwhile, aspects of the entertainment industry that have gained 53% in employment, or 28,000 jobs, over the same period in areas include Software Publishers, Media Streaming, Performing Arts, Spectator Sports and Related Industries, and Independent Artists.

As the entertainment industry is becoming increasingly tech, the share of college-educated workers it employs has risen from 46% in 2000 to 68% in 2022. The workforce also has become more racially diverse. For the first time, in 2022, the majority of those employed in LA Greater Entertainment were nonwhite, according to the report.

“Los Angeles’ is still the apex of the entertainment industry, but the industry itself is undergoing once-in-a-generation changes,” said Dr. Patrick Adler, principal at Westwood Economics and Planning Associates and assistant professor at The University of Hong Kong. “It is less dependent on film and television studios, more oriented towards online content creation, live events and gaming, and also much more technical and managerial than ever. What it means to work in Hollywood is starkly different today than even ten years ago.”

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