Hollywood is a dream factory - as long as your dream isn't having a job
I get a bit frustrated with The Studio, a satire that is beloved by those in the industry, with how little it reflects the reality of those actually working in the industry. Or at least, those trying to work in the industry. Satire works when it finds comedy in reality vs a concocted Hollywood industry that hasn’t existed for some time now.
The rapid decline of production for Hollywood product in Los Angeles (where Hollywood actually is… it’s not just a state of mind) has continued for the third straight year. In less than a decade, production has halved.
As per THR:
In L.A., like in other locales, studio lots are touting themselves as open for business for influencers to set up shop and fill the gap left by a decline in network orders for TV episodes and scripted series. (The Fox lot in Century City has a recent sunny pitch: “For the first time in years, Fox studio lot stages are available for booking!”) Other studio operators are consolidating their assets, putting up “for sale” signs on soundstage complexes that don’t have an anchor tenant (think: a TV series that shoots for multiple seasons) while focusing on core properties. The operator of Radford Studio Center, a historic Studio City complex that CBS sold off in 2021 for $1.85 billion as part of Paramount’s then-effort to “slim down assets to scale up in streaming” is reported to have defaulted on a $1.1 billion loan.
LA still leads in US-based production, but not by as much as it once did.
The problem with so many productions exiting Los Angeles is that it makes it difficult for professionals wanting to maintain employment to work where they live. For a sustainable industry, everyday workers need to have structure and rely less on chasing work around the country.
It’s worth noting another report today from Luminate that has highlighted the reduction in US TV productions generally. The era of peak TV is over with an 11% drop in original shows in 2025 vs 2024. The Luminate study also recorded a drop in the number of international shows imported in to the US market.
While the figures don’t include live sports and news programming, I’d be curious to know how much of the drop reflects fewer unscripted shows being made. Obviously within that space, viewership is still high with audiences finding that content in original shows made for platforms like YouTube. I’d assume the study doesn’t account for USG digital channels
News Desk
Netflix has added an extra eight shows to its lineup of video podcasts. The highest profile ones being comedy therapy show Therapuss with Jake Shane and 48 Hours: Post Mortem. This is not, as Deadline’s headline suggests, an “audio push” as they are, in fact, video podcasts that cannot be consumed as audio-only. Read: Deadline
Prime Video has announced the Legally Blonde prequel show Elle will debut July 1, with a second season ordered.
All of the James Bond films are streaming now on the US Netflix in 4K. Read: HD Report
Netflix has cancelled western The Abandons after one season. The troubled production starred Lena Headey and Gillian Anderson, with showrunner Kurt Sutter leaving before production was done. Also gone after two seasons is The Vince Staples Show. Read: THR
The #OnceChicago shows will crossover on March 4. Read: thefutoncritic
The BBC has confirmed it will begin making content exclusively for YouTube. It’ll cover entertainment, news, and sport starting with February’s Winter Olympics. Read: The Guardian
Dan McGolpin, director of BBC’s iPlayer and TV channels says that the plan is to launch at least 50 new BBC YouTube channels over the next year. Read: LinkedIn
Ella Stiller (grandaughter of the late Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller) will co-star opposite Mike Colter in the new Robert & Michelle King TV show Cupertino. Read: Deadline
Samsung TV Plus reports 100 million monthly active users globally. Read: Variety
Pitch Perfect director Jason Moore will direct the film adaptation of Murder She Wrote set to star Jamie Lee Curtis. Read: Deadline
On Patrol: Live has been renewed for season 5, delivering another 90 episodes. The show replaced Live PD, which was cancelled during the concerns about media representation of police following the blue murder of George Floyd. But with that problem solved, TV was again ready to live broadcast cops busting the bad guys on live television once again. Read: Deadline
IAB Australia has announced a community access pass initiative to give those in the industry who are between jobs or recently made redundant,the opportunity to attend IAB Australia’s events for free. The community pass tickets are limited. The next event is its Audio Summit in March.
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Trailer Park
Erotic thriller 56 Days debuts on Prime Video Feb 18.
56 Days follows Oliver and Ciara, who, after meeting randomly in a supermarket, fall for each other fast, and dangerously hard. Fifty-six days later, homicide investigators arrive at Oliver’s apartment to find an unidentified body - brutally murdered and intentionally decomposed. Did he kill her? Did she kill him? Intercutting between an intense single day in the present investigation, and the twisted trajectory of the young lovers’ affair in the past, the series is both a unique crime story and a riveting, sexy, psychological thriller.
Dreaming Whilst Black returns to Paramount+ for season 2 Feb 20.
For All Mankind returns for season 5 on March 27.
The Night Agent is back for season 3 on Netflix Feb 19.
That’s the newsletter for the today.
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The tension between Hollywood's glamorous image and the precarious reality of industry employment is striking. The satire works precisely because it exposes the disconnect between how the industry markets itself and what it offers workers. Production restructuring toward shorter seasons and location-based shooting reflects broader labor market shifts that prioritize flexibility over stability.
For All Mankind S5! Can't wait for this, it's quickly becoming one of my all time favs.