President Trump’s national tax credit initiative has real teeth (a 25% federal film-production tax credit) and bipartisan support.
asserted
initiative → have → teeth
The good news for Hollywood might end there.
uncertain
news → end → Hollywood
All the incentives in the world can’t stop LA from being LA, and that’s something not even the real estate mogul-in-chief can change.
asserted
mogul → stop → chief
Start your day with all you need to know
Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.
asserted
Report → start → news
Film and TV productions have been fleeing the city for some time now.
asserted
productions → flee → time
In 2025, LA experienced the lowest levels of filming on record, continuing a trend that has left locals wondering about the future of Hollywood as an entertainment mecca.
asserted
that → experience → mecca
The shows must go on, especially given the crush of streaming channels and old-school channels craving new content.
asserted
shows → go → content
It’s just not happening here.
asserted
It → happen → ?
Some crews bundle up and head north to Canada.
asserted
crews → bundle → Canada
Others leave North America for more hospitable business climates across the globe.
asserted
Others → leave → globe
One director fled to South America to lens a movie set in LA.
asserted
director → flee → LA
We’d all be surprised at how many countries can be tweaked to look like American cities.
asserted
countries → tweak → cities
That’s movie magic, and a necessity given LA’s decline.
asserted
That → ’ → decline
Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters
New tax credits will help, no doubt, especially for loyal artists eager to keep Hollywood ‘Hollywood.’
asserted
credits → download → artists
Money still matters, and the industry remains addicted to overspending.
asserted
industry → matter → overspending
That means every way to pinch pennies counts.
asserted
way → mean → pennies
Some storytellers need that more than others.
asserted
storytellers → need → others
Consider rom-com darling Nancy Meyers of “The Holiday” and “It’s Complicated” fame.
asserted
It → consider → fame
Her latest project arrived with a sticker price of $150 million, a staggering sum blamed on star salaries and, wait for it, an LA-based shoot.
asserted
project → arrive → it
The latter never comes cheaply, an ugly truth that deserves a Hollywood closeup.
asserted
that → come → closeup
Consider this comment from a young screenwriter who shared a studio note for one of his projects.
asserted
who → consider → projects
“We need to find a state to shoot this that looks like California, but isn’t California.”
asserted
that → need → California
Veteran movie producer Dallas Sonnier (“Brawl in Cell Block 99,” “Run Hide Fight: Infidels”) echoed that reality.
asserted
Sonnier → run → reality
“This likely federal film tax incentive will not make movies any easier to shoot in California for anyone with a brain.
asserted
movies → make → brain
The unions will come after you, bothering productions to no end as they nitpick every detail, even on tiny budgets under $1 million.
asserted
they → come → million
The permitting process will never get any easier, especially if the useful idiot middle managers don’t like the content of your project.
asserted
managers → get → project
Some still cling to the Hollywood of yore, and they’re putting their money where their nostalgia circuits are.
asserted
circuits → cling → money
Developer David Simon is bringing a new, $450 million studio to Hollywood, hoping to inject life into the struggling industry.
asserted
Simon → bring → industry
The 10-acre Echelon Studios Hollywood is efficiently structured to make the most of its prime real estate.
asserted
Hollywood → structure → estate
Is Simon’s vision a Hollywood fantasy … or will it leverage a possible Trumpian boost?
asserted
it → leverage → boost
The recent Mayoral primary results all but scream the former.
asserted
results → scream → former
Could that change?
uncertain
that → change → ?
The recent mayoral primary results all but scream, “no!”
asserted
results → scream → ?
Spencer Pratt’s upstart campaign lacked a Hollywood ending, and he seemed the most sincere about making Los Angeles friendlier to local productions.
asserted
Angeles → lack → productions
Heck, Hollywood made him famous in the first place.
asserted
him → make → place
Sitting Mayor Karen Bass has talked a good game on the campaign trail, but conditions on the ground suggest otherwise.
asserted
conditions → sit → ground
Why didn’t she do more about the problem over the past four years?
asserted
she → do → years
Her challenger, City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, is now the odds-on favorite to become LA’s next mayor.
asserted
challenger → become → ?
She’s to the left of Mayor Karen Bass, and there’s little hope that the DSA acolyte will correct some of LA’s anti-business posture.
asserted
acolyte → ’ → posture
She once blamed car manufacturers, not car thieves, for making it too easy to nick a vehicle.
asserted
it → blame → vehicle
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
