News
October 23, 2015
Weekly Update from Kelly Graham-Scherer, Los Angeles Representative: October 23, 2015
Happy Friday everyone,
It appears that recent changes to production tax credits have hit industry stakeholders in Louisiana hard. New Orleans-based TV station WDSU ran a story this week on how production work has dried up in what was once one of the busiest jurisdictions in North America.
http://www.wdsu.com/news/local-news/new-orleans/some-see-work-disappear-in-film-industry-after-changes-to-states-tax-credit-program/35908890
There was an interesting article in the Los Angeles Business Journal this week about how film and television wages differ in various incentivized jurisdictions across the USA. If you click on the link below, there is a data table in the original story, which leads the author to conclude that workers in L.A. are still better off than those across the country.
http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/news/2015/10/22/film-and-tv-jobs-are-migrating-to-new-york-and.html
The announcement this week that Disney-owned ESPN will lay off 4% of its workforce is yet another example of how changing viewing habits are shaking up traditional television. As detailed in the L.A. Times below, ESPN has been under pressure to control costs because it no longer can depend on steady growth from its most reliable revenue stream: fees from cable and satellite subscribers and because advertising dollars are shifting from television to digital platforms where younger viewers are spending more time watching video.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-espn-layoffs-20151023-story.html#navtype=outfit
A group of critics at the Hollywood Reporter got together this week and discussed what they described as this fall's "Terrible Season for Broadcast". As detailed below, they noted "the fact that cable, the premium channels and the streaming platforms all had something intriguing in the mix only made the networks' lack of anything truly compelling even more glaring".
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/thr-tv-critics-square-falls-833257
Finally this week, I was fascinated to read about some of the Canadian tech start-ups that are carving out niches in the screen-based industries. The Globe and Mail profiled several companies that are attempting to help both the studio side and the theatre side of the business stay competitive with new innovations, such as improved projection imagery or experiences to augment movie-going.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/small-business/sb-tools/startups-see-a-niche-in-the-film-industry/article26739871/
You'll find the full text for the linked articles below my signature. Please feel free to distribute this e-mail widely and to get in touch with comments or links for inclusion.
Warmest regards,
Kelly