Studios used to spend 74% of their film production budgets in the US 25 years ago, and they now spend 42% of it, according to the report from a coalition of Hollywood unions, including IATSE, the Directors Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA.
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they → use → America
TV number have fallen by about a third, from 94% to 64%.
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number → fall → %
The report comes just as Paramount Skydance is expected to close its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery on Tuesday, officially dropping the Paramount Skydance corporate name to become “Skydance Corporation.”
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Skydance → come → name
The new data was also released as Congress considers whether a 20 to 30% production incentive would help activate the domestic film and TV industry.
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incentive → release → industry
Those who support the incentive say the US needs to counter incentives already provided by other countries such as Canada, the UK and others, arguing that state-based incentives aren’t enough.
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incentives → support → Canada
Congress members have looked into the issue of production jobs in the US going down since the end of Peak TV in 2022.
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jobs → look → 2022
However, the report, conducted by EY, indicates the longevity of the downturn, as the movie and TV business became global in the early 2000s.
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business → conduct → 2000s
The report says that while productions have grown substantially, the US shares a smaller stake of it.
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US → say → it
The study looked into movies and TV episodes that take a significant amount of funds to make, such as films with budgets of $5 million or more, in 2025 dollars, and TV episodes costing at least $1 million, for about 40 minutes or shorter, and at least $1.7 million for episodes longer than 40 minutes.
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that → look → minutes
In the past 25 years, the amount major studios spent on production rose from $3 billion to $7 billion.
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studios → spend → billion
TV spending increased even more during that time, from $933 million to $8.4 billion.
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spending → increase → billion
However, with all the differences that exist with the current TV landscape from that of the early 2000s, the report said that it was hard to draw out comparisons.
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it → exist → comparisons
“The rise of streaming fundamentally altered production scale, budgets, season lengths, and release models, creating discontinuities in what constitutes a comparable television series across periods,” the report said.
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report → alter → periods
The report also only quantifies the number of productions that have gone overseas, but it doesn’t explain the reason for it.
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it → quantify → it
Most of the films that have gone overseas are ones with big budgets.
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that → go → budgets
The US market’s share of the 25 most expensive films declined from 74% to 34% in the past 25 years.
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share → decline → years
Those films were a quarter of all the ones major studios made, but they represent half of the crew and two-thirds of the budgets.
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they → make → budgets
“This highlights that production budgets are heavily concentrated within a small subset of films,” the report said.
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report → highlight → films
“Patterns observed within this group generally reflect the broader analysis trends, albeit with a somewhat larger decline.”
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Patterns → observe → decline
The report says that if the movie business in the US had remained the same in the past 25 years, then an additional $4 billion would have been spent every year on TV and films in the country.
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billion → say → country
Last month, the Motion Picture Association released a study indicating that a federal incentive would generate about $22 billion in annual domestic production spending by 2035.
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incentive → release → 2035
The report warned that if Congress doesn’t act, then the US share of the market will continue to decline.
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share → warn → market
Unions will be coming together for a protest in Glendale, Calif. with Sen. Adam Schiff and other Democrats Tuesday.
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Unions → come → Schiff
Schiff, along with other legislators, introduced a federal credit proposal that would create a pretty generous incentive for studios.
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that → introduce → studios
With President Donald Trump’s support, the bill is expected to be signed into law by the end of 2026.
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bill → expect → 2026
The Aporia
