The share of US film and music industry employees working in California dropped from its long-term average of around 40% to 25% in 2024. Part of this drop could be explained by the writers and actors strike in California in 2022 after which film production did not recover. At the same time, competition from other places has increased including from the US state of Georgia, but also internationally from the UK and Canada. These places have generally offered more attractive tax incentives than California, a key contributor according to film industry commentators. To counter this, California’s governor proposed doubling the state’s tax credit pool. Another factor contributing to California’s declining share of film and TV production is the rise of streaming services which have gained power from production studios, historically concentrated in California. The streaming companies are more agnostic to where content is produced.
Source: US Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, January 2025.