People Everywhere Need Good, Economic Entertainment
Content Insider #909A – Confidence
By Andy Marken – andy@markencom.com
“Contact with the other side is strictly forbidden, which is irrelevant, given the land mines and lethal tactical barriers to the north and south of the gorge. Can’t get to the other side, anyway. In practical terms, east tower is not an issue. They do their thing; you do yours.” – J.D., “The Gorge,” Skydance Media, Apple TV+, 2025
Right now, John Voight, award-winning actor and “special ambassador to Hollywood”, is probably wondering why he let AI touch the review, analysis and recommendation report he gave to the White House on how to save US video content production.
Come on, he’s gotta blame something/someone and “everyone” knows half-cooked AI can/will screw up anything!
Voight supposedly spent a lot of time meeting with studio heads, union bosses, directors and other industry folks around the country while his co-ambassadors (Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone) were busy on their current projects in Italy and Britian.
Voight got a lot of things right and wrong, but it all seems to have gotten lost in translation but it’s hard to speak/understand governmentese.
A lot of projects that start in Hollywood do end up being shot, produced and posted elsewhere–Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, New York, Albuquerque. Denver, Dallas, Vancouver, Toronto, London, Paris, Sydney, Mumbai, Berlin, Sydney, Christchurch, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Tokyo, Seoul, Dubai; well, you get the idea.
Today, it’s not uncommon for a film/show to pass through multiple time zones as it travels from an idea to something people can view.
And there are a ton of reasons including a very basic one … the director/actor likes the area and the team he/she has worked with over the years and knows they can help her/him deliver on time, on budget, without a lot of hassle.
Let’s start with the basic assertion that got everyone “excited,” that the movie, TV show industry in Hollywood is dying.
The American video content industry generated $22.6B in exports in the last published reporting period (2023), contributed a $15.3B trade surplus, supported 2.32M jobs and paid out $229B in total wages.
Several years ago, Digital TV Research estimated that U.S. studios generated $5.4B a year selling drama series to European television.
The U.S. film/TV industry is still a powerhouse—employing nearly three million people and supporting 240,000 businesses.
Bounce Back – Despite some rough “treatment” in recent years, Hollywood is still considered the home of theater/home video entertainment industry, even though production activity has been slowed considerably in recent years.
But the global production landscape is rapidly shifting … and Hollywood is the poster child of change.
The pandemic, nearly five-month dual strikes and LA fires certainly didn’t help.
Hard Hit – With the largest population of film and show professionals, events such as the nearly five-month strikes have had a dramatic impact on creative project folks.
The area (and state) has the largest number of content creation, development and production people in the US.
The whiplash of the strike/fire has had a negative effect on video project work done in the area and it’s following a long-term trend.
It’s easy to blame the downturn on international production but the issue strikes even closer to home.
The state’s/areas qualifications are ambiguous/nebulous.
The tiers of review/approval have steadily expanded over the years, making the non-productive/overhead work a full-time job.
Country-Wide – While many say the industry’s problems can be attributed to incentive programs from other countries, almost every major state, region and city in the US is aggressively wooing content creation projects.
Nearly all states and major cities in the US have a film commission and differing set of tax incentives, rebates, grants and other programs to encourage projects – films, TV series, reality shows.
Despite California’s unmatched workforce, locations, and century-long industry leadership, the state faces increasing competition from states and countries offering more robust, flexible and defined incentives.
Many states and locations have expanded their support by qualifying ATL (above-the-line) Above-the-Line (“ATL”) labor for their incentive programs.
California doesn’t offer animation incentives while 30 states do including New York, Georgia, Texas and Oregon.
This has resulted in a statewide decline in animation work in California while many locations see a dramatic increase for these projects and their success on the big and home screen.
Breakout Animation – China’s animated film Ne Zha 2 showed that the country has become a major movie/show production center.
China’s recent worldwide hit, Na Zhe 2, has grossed more than $2B to become the fifth highest grossing film of all time.
The project involved 4,000 people in 138 animation companies.
Today’s animation work can largely be done remotely, and projects have grown from 558 in 2019 to more than 850 last year, an increase of 54 percent.
The market is projected to grow 117 percent between last year and 2034. It is valued at $413-$898B across film, TV, video games, and advertising.
This has encouraged states, cities and countries to develop/expand facilities and training programs to develop workforces trained in the latest techniques and technologies.
In addition, cities, states and countries have taken note that California doesn’t qualify unscripted television and post-production projects for incentives and have broadened their programs and services accordingly.
State Prides – Texas and Georgia have quickly become “go to” locations for content production thanks to state and local officials working closely with people deeply involved in and committed to the industry.
Often, it’s people inside the industry who “push” their hometowns/states to improve, enhance and broaden their abilities to attract video production.
Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson have become the driving forces behind Austin’s and Texas’ production facilities and their project incentive programs.
Tyler Perry is the champion of Atlanta’s and Georgia’s major content creation hubs.
He continues to expand his major production facilities in Atlanta and attracted other organizations to invest in new, enhanced facilities.
The state invests nearly $5B annually in its incentive programs which cover films, series, game and talk shows as well as contest-based shows.
Officials feel the program provides major consistent returns in direct employment as well as peripheral business income.
To reinforce the state’s image as a major production center, you’ll spot the Georgia peach logo in the closing credits identifying the state as a globally recognized production hub.
They consider it good advertising and it seems to be working because the facilities and crews have a steady flow of projects and visitors.
All of the states have very active film commissions that are a little different from those in California.
Their efforts seem to be focused on streamlining the processes for video projects by minimizing authorizations and assisting teams throughout the production process.
Want a street location … done. Need special permits … done. Need unique crew/professional members …done. Need added resources … done.
Showrunners, EPs and staff members don’t have to go from one fiefdom to another saving time, money and…frustration.
And the cities/states compete for all of these projects without the financial and influencer/outreach assistance/cooperation of a national effort or coordinated/committed US financial incentive program like those provided by every serious country around the world.
So, let’s get something very straight here … video content (movies, series, game/talk shows, reality projects) – are all businesses.
Very serious businesses!
You may like to go to the movies. spend hours in front of your home set or catch up on a project or review trailers on your small screen.
However, to the hundreds of thousands of women and men who do this for a living, it’s a business that at the end of the day has to make a profit for Wall Street, investors, bosses and every person in the company and on the project.
So along with the producers, directors, showrunners and senior talent, they shop the movie/show on the open market considering all the tangible and intangible costs.
Accountants count!
And that includes the cost of the money you’re using for the project.
Global Enticement – Major countries around the world like Saudi Arabia, England, Canada, Australia and India are making major commitments to develop and expand their studios and capabilities to meet the growing demand for state-of-the-art production locations.
Like most countries around the globe, Canada, England and Saudi Arabia have been working with regional and local authorities to develop and expand their content production facilities.
In addition, they’re building up and training the supporting infrastructure and talent pools projects need.
At the same time, they’re developing and refining their incentive programs.
To put it bluntly, these locations aren’t “stealing” projects from the US/California … they’re earning it.
They do it in part because content creation, development and production are relatively “clean” industries that requires a very talented (well-paid) workforce that is constantly learning and advancing.
And an indirect/difficult-to-measure benefit is that the films/shows people watch around the world attract tourists who want to see places they’ve seen on their various screens.
Ramping Change – Movies in theaters continue to be a good business but the growth of more and different video stories of all kinds can largely be attributed to the big leap regular people have taken for home entertainment.
In other words … it’s good business!
There’s another issue that hasn’t been addressed because people have made a major shift in their home/personal entertainment consumption.
US video streaming has grown quickly – projected to produce more than $156B this year – with more than 83 percent of households having at least one streaming service and an increasing number – even considering strained household budgets – have five services.
While the market is led by Netflix and Amazon Prime, every major studio, network and more than 200 global competitors are increasing their activities – new content – to earn a major piece of the action.
Driven by the increase in internet penetration, the increase in mobil devices and the popularity of the anytime/anywhere/any screen content, they all see significant growth in the global market – 1.8B projected subscribers in a market valued in excess of $184B.
In addition to a wide range of financial inducements for the services to create content in their countries, officials have a relatively modest requirement that 30-40 percent of the content shown in the country must be produced locally in the 188 countries Netflix serves.
That has proven to be a benefit to Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney, WBD and others because the cost of producing a movie/show can be inexpensive compared to doing comparable work in Hollywood.
The services have also found that video stories ignore national borders and a movie/show that appeals to people in India, France, Mexico, Brazil or other country will also attract viewers in surrounding countries and internationally.
Of course, the White House could change the mix of projects we enjoy in the US because the cost of making them available to us would really suck!
Home Investment – Netflix and other streamers/studios continue to make major investments in state-of-the-art facilities in locations such as New Jersey and New Mexico.
It could be a setback as to the range and variety of content folks in the US watch, but it won’t slow the development and production of projects that Netflix and others produce in the US.
Netflix has invested heavily in film and show production in locations such as New Jersey where they are building a state-of-the-art facility at the former Fort Monmouth Army Base and its expanding production footprint in New Mexico.
Yes, it helped that the states, counties and cities provided meaningful tax relief.
However, area officials also note that the locations will provide opportunities for new jobs with professionals relocating to the areas in addition to educational/apprenticeships for people as well as a growing number of support services/companies.
And Netflix is not alone.
Every streaming service, studio and network has awakened to the need to expand their production footprint in the US and around the globe to meet the growing demand for new, different, better and more – lots more – home/personal entertainment.
It’s an industry that is projected to grow in size from an estimated $675B last year to $2,661B by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights.
All of this without a coherent, cohesive, coordinated and reliable US – and Hollywood – creative content support program which only validates what Levi said in The Gorge, “If you’re lonely when you’re alone, you’re in bad company.”
The industry can continue to grow and prosper for Wall Street, shareholders, seasoned and incoming professionals and the entertainment public as long as progress is made at all levels to support, not hinder the industry.
As JD noted, “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”
That may be something even John Voight and his fellow European producing/Hollywood Ambassadors should be able to agree on and hopefully, their boss will listen and support.
If not film/show work here is …
Andy Marken – andy@markencom.com – is an author of more than 800 articles on management, marketing, communications, industry trends in media & entertainment, consumer electronics, software and applications. An internationally recognized marketing/communications consultant with a broad range of technical and industry expertise especially in storage, storage management and film/video production fields; he has an extended range of relationships with business, industry trade press, online media and industry analysts/consultants.