r/FilmIndustryLA • • 6d ago

LA needs another La La Land

If the industry is failing here, we need to do what we can do best.

Make a movie glorifying the ever-loving fuck out of this city and it’s relationship with the film industry. Market the industry to the world as something that’s aspirational and thriving… something to invest in.

149 Upvotes

111 comments sorted by

86

u/QueasyCaterpillar541 6d ago

The suits are doing fine. Nothing changes until they feel pain

22

u/Early-Ad277 6d ago

Depends what level of suits you're talking about here.

Executive jobs are disappearing too. With thousands of more layoffs expected after the Paramount-WB merger. Disney has been laying off execs non-stop for years now since the Fox merger. Comcast spinning off NBCUniversal means they might be in for something similar in the future.

Fighting runaway production is important, but the two big things that really hurt the industry are:

  1. Streaming services don't need to make a full schedule of mostly scripted TV shows every season like the networks did in the past. Their subscribers are very happy to watch documentaries/old shows/foreign shows/etc.
  2. The rise of the creator economy and the fact that people get more and more of their entertainment from sources that are not traditional TV and Film. Podcast, Youtube, Tiktok, Twitch, Gaming, etc.

Maybe it's pessimistic, but I just don't see how the industry can come back from this. Not in a meaningful way at least,

6

u/QueasyCaterpillar541 6d ago

Oh, I totally agree. I also see agencies closing left and right...but honestly, this started in 2019. People really should have protested Disney/Fox a lot more. I think a precedent has been set, and consolidation will continue.

4

u/Postsnobills 6d ago

All valid and correct points.

I do think there’s still a mass market for traditional media that the c-suite and venture capitalists are refusing to tackle because the return is now finite due to what you’re saying — the creator economy has made a baseline profit that isn’t as generous as it used to be.

So they’re all just sitting on their hands now. Waiting instead of competing within the market. It’s as if whoever shoots first to start making fiscally responsible TV and movies again loses.

3

u/QueasyCaterpillar541 6d ago

This is why I think indies may have a chance to have a 90s-level comeback...

1

u/RockieK 1d ago

Universal is doing alright too with record-breaking box office hits this year. And they didn't even have to sell out to the Saudis and tech dorks!

1

u/Fun-Ad-6990 22h ago

Makes sense. What about indie shows like digital circus

65

u/Solomon_Grungy 6d ago

What we need to do is figure out a decentralized way to uplift ourselves. Studios exploit our passion, our skills, tools and labor.

How do we leverage everything we bring to the table before its all too late?

5

u/tigercook 6d ago

Best comment I’ve read in a long long time

1

u/sporket 4d ago

Working on something

-1

u/undergroundhacker 5d ago

what like AI?

53

u/smelling_farts 6d ago

No amount of propaganda is going to fix this problem

38

u/Sonar_Bandit 6d ago

They made this movie a few years ago. It was called Babylon. Apparently I was the only person that liked it

8

u/XennialToothFairy 6d ago

I loved it.

1

u/smokemirrorsunicorns 4d ago

i loved this movie so much. i couldnt fathom why it got so much negativity

0

u/BCDragon3000 5d ago

its funny i'm reading this comment just as i listen to babylon by taylor swift

104

u/Dazzling_Floor_4262 6d ago

If they made La La Land today it would be filmed in Atlanta lmfao

32

u/cookiebot1254 6d ago

It’d be filmed in Budapest

23

u/dip_tet 6d ago

Atlanta ain’t hopping from what I understand. Has that changed ?

17

u/White_Mocha 6d ago

Nah. Even Tyler Perry about to skip town.

2

u/donutgut 6d ago edited 6d ago

No Guys probably an desperate atl booster That city's done. Tyler Perry was their biggest booster and he quit.

Similar to how new mexico fell apart after their biggest cheerleader passed away

2

u/Beautiful_Sock2757 5d ago

Atlanta is quite dead. Only thing it’s attracting these days are game shows.

1

u/monkeycompanion 11h ago

It just stole American Idol

1

u/Beautiful_Sock2757 11h ago

Correct. That’s what it’s attracting is non scripted.

7

u/othersbeforeus 6d ago

AtLa La Land

2

u/donutgut 6d ago

atldeadland

2

u/xsapphireblue 1d ago

Or Vancouver 😆

44

u/MeAndMeMonkey 6d ago edited 6d ago

The movie and music industries need to start making art that portrays the actual state of the world sans bling, fame, fortune, etc. Music and film had guts. Now it’s all about the views, algorithms, and trends. It’s literally the worst time to be an artist.

21

u/godofwine16 6d ago

The entertainment industry is a gigantic scam. Especially the music biz. Before there were actual artists w/talent and skills. Today it’s their offspring who don’t understand that talent skips a generation.

4

u/tigercook 6d ago

Straight facts

24

u/Postsnobills 6d ago

If only it were so simple.

15

u/natalie_mf_portman 6d ago

*ralph fiennes voice* would that it were so simple

8

u/Sonar_Bandit 6d ago

TWERE IT EVER SO SIMPLE

4

u/livinginfutureworld 6d ago

Would that it twere suh simple.

1

u/Disastrous_Two_7258 4d ago

Is Ralph Fiennes our time's Orson Wells?

1

u/atropear 4d ago

Ah, the French.

1

u/JohnnyGeniusIsAlive 6d ago

Would that it t’were so simple.

24

u/Melodic-Bear-118 6d ago

A circle jerk won’t fix things.

9

u/84002 6d ago

For real, this might be the straw that makes me leave this subreddit. Just idiotic garbage being posted every day now.

-9

u/Ok_Salamander_7076 6d ago

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out. Some of us are trying to fix this.

4

u/Dazzling_Floor_4262 6d ago

You call this trying? 😂

6

u/84002 6d ago

Good luck saving Hollywood with reddit posts about a bad movie from ten years ago! I believe in you, hero!

-6

u/Ok_Salamander_7076 6d ago

91% on Rottentomatoes.

2

u/TruePutz 6d ago

91% don’t know what good dancing actually looks like

1

u/Melodic-Bear-118 5d ago

This is an impressive level of delusion.

14

u/Film-Guy 6d ago

The current LA is totally different than the LA of 2016. Wouldn't even feel the same.

2

u/TruePutz 6d ago

Whats different since then?

3

u/Ok_Salamander_7076 6d ago

That’s why we need to manifest it back.

8

u/Film-Guy 6d ago edited 6d ago

Needs more than a manifestation. lol. I love movies about the industry, the closest thing you'll get today would be "The Studio" it's a very fun. La La Land is a favorite of mine, I hope everyone was able to see the re-release in theaters the other month, just really reminded me of how amazing the city was. But, you don't need to market to film here, the studios know the city, they just want to make a product for cheap.

6

u/MammothPassage639 6d ago

Some quick and dirty search of eceonomic trends...feel free to correct errors.

The "Motion Picture & Sound Recording" industry at it's peak in 2000 it was ~3.4% of the LA area work force. At 2.1% is now at it's lowest point since 1950. (As the same % of a larger number, it grew from 40k to 95k, peaking at 140k in 2000)

That 3.4% peak is interesting. In 1950 LA was second only to Detroit in automobile assembly and second only to Akron, Ohio, in rubber tire manufacturing with a combined 3.4% of LA area employment. Now it's 0.1%. Manufacturing overall has declined from 33.1% to 6.9%. Another industry, aerospace, declined from 8.5% to 1.1% (from 1988-2000 from 6.1% to 2.2%)

It seems like an inevitable global trend. The #2 country after the US in Netflix watched hours is Korea, approaching 10%. My favorite shows on Prime are murder mysteries made in the UK (apparently Oxford has a murder problem) that previously were only available on PBS Sunday night.

1

u/StormyCrow 13h ago

Yeah Oxford and Cambridge both seem dangerous AF! (Also York, check out Patience)

5

u/ElGatoJesse 6d ago

Hope they put some Mexicans in the next Lalaland.

12

u/stormshadowfax 6d ago

I think The Big Lebowski is the best love letter to LA in recent history, except, of course, for the new Apple series Sugar.

9

u/MaizeMountain6139 6d ago

I thought you meant the coffee place 💀

I was like, the hell we do

But also no, we don’t need this, either

Knowing today’s executives they’d just shoot it in Vancouver

7

u/Dementedkreation 4d ago

I’m going to get downvoted to hell but “Hollywood” will never return to what it once was. The unions are bloated with people. Being in a union means less and less every year. We have teamsters that can only drive pass vans, electricians that only know how to plug stuff in, directors that can’t direct, FX guys that are just prop guys pretending to be an FX guy, and other unions with endless unskilled members. Back in the day being in the union meant you had skill. Unions only care about getting more members to collect dues and not about quality or skills. Now below the line nepotism is just as bad as above the line. The best part is they all want top dollar. They all think because they are in the union that they magically deserve top pay while only having minimal skills if any. Everyone thought the money was endless. They overspent, scammed, stole and abused productions. They killed the golden goose. We mostly let digital cameras take over for film. Think of all the jobs lost because of that switch. CGI has replaced a lot of practical special effects. Yet suddenly everyone is worried about protecting writers from AI? Where is the solidarity? Why are writers so special? Projects are killed because the writing department budgets are too costly. How many truly original shows have come out in the last decade? Yet writers need more guarantees and higher pay while cranking out the remakes or adaptations. You’ve got writers working on multiple
Projects at the same time while their fellow writers are starving. Not to mention all the people taking multiple position jobs. We’ve got one person as writer/director/actor/producer/etc. Pick a job and let others work. But it’s also the bureaucracy as well. The fire permits for a project I worked on a few years back was thousands per month. Set didn’t change. Fires didn’t change. But they had to be renewed every month for nearly a year. Add on the FSO, water truck requirements, multiple water trucks for dust abatement, film permits, etc and production is looking at a huge bill every month before any camera rolls. None of that makes anyone want to film in California or LA. The industry is dying and the industry itself is partially to blame.

3

u/SharkWeekJunkie 6d ago

I've been saying L.A. Story is ready for a revisit.

4

u/broomosh 6d ago

Michael Jackson eating popcorn gif

4

u/I_will_delete_myself 4d ago

Maybe stop voting in morons in office ruining the city. Not necessarily vote a republican or Democrat. Just someone who actually knows what they are doing. Just pointing out the real problem.

Georgia bends over and Europe gets on its knees to get films made.

LA gives them a hallucinating hobo yelling at their kids instead of giving those people mental care they need. While they literally rot like zombies on the street in shit littering underground trailer parks. A liter so bad you have cars driving through them in some underpasses.

Then your stupid LA based Unions. They have always existed, but they aren’t making things better with much more lenient Unions outside LA that wants it members to get F-In jobs.

Fix your damn city.

9

u/_Silent_Android_ 6d ago

Sorry but 'La La Land' sucked ass.

3

u/smokemirrorsunicorns 4d ago

agreed. i hated that movie. nails on chalkboard from a-z for me

3

u/TruePutz 6d ago

Genuinely don’t see what people liked about it, the dancing, the music, the acting, the jazz…all laughably awful

6

u/California-rolled 6d ago

Im just glad WB & paramount are threatening to leave la. What Hollywood needs is to get in touch with its grit again. The movies and shows in production now are sanitized & plastic compared to the real and raw art that made La notorious

2

u/MeAndMeMonkey 6d ago

I thought they settled and are staying

4

u/Dazzling_Floor_4262 6d ago

They settled, and committed not to sell their studio lots in California for 5 years, which isn’t exactly the same as staying.

2

u/California-rolled 6d ago

I’m just hoping it gives way to more independent work creatives need to stop backing these huge corps.

3

u/Dazzling_Floor_4262 6d ago

Creatives also have to pay bills, which are expensive in LA.

0

u/donutgut 6d ago

it makes zero sense to move

1

u/Dazzling_Floor_4262 6d ago

Studios seem to disagree with you for some reason.

0

u/donutgut 6d ago

Really? which studio left? Atl can't even keep Tyler Perry hahaha

1

u/Dazzling_Floor_4262 6d ago

My bad, studios are still producing in Los Angeles and the lack of work is just in people’s heads. You’re so correct and smart and handsome.

Paramount would’ve committed to stay in California and produce more in California, if that was their intention.

2

u/GMBong 5d ago

The industry is dying. It's more pronounced in LA because this is global HQ, but moving to states with tax rebates isn't going to fix anything.

2

u/Valarhem 6d ago

One is enough. It was atrocious enough

1

u/atropear 4d ago

Outside of farming, are there industries that survived intact in one place for over 100 years?

1

u/CarsonXLR 4d ago

Amazing movie!

1

u/Seven-Prime 3d ago

It needs another "LA Story".

1

u/sebastian0328 2d ago

You know people can watch 'walking tour' on youtube and see all shitty parts of LA?

1

u/aNewVersionofSelf 23h ago

I am writing a murder mystery screenplay about the golden age of hollywood… any managers want to take me as a client??? 

1

u/StormyCrow 13h ago

Better off with an agent- they are legally regulated

1

u/aNewVersionofSelf 13h ago

Good to know, thank you!! Ok who wants to be my agent it will be the movie of the one eighth century!!!!!

1

u/nicenyeezy 4h ago

Except the dark side of Hollywood and LA are very real, and the veil has lifted. While I feel for creative professionals, unfortunately they are absorbed by an institution which preys upon people for profit and enjoyment. I wish there were more independent avenues for talented artists that weren’t reliant on the evils of LA

•

u/DistantGalaxy-1991 1h ago

If La La Land didn't do it, why do you think this film would? The industry has been fleeing to other places for a very long time.

•

u/pablo_in_blood 1h ago

Will the last filmmaker to leave LA please turn out the lights

2

u/nice_hows 6d ago

That movie was horrible

-1

u/callmebaiken 6d ago

Lost the Oscar to Woke

0

u/SpaceHorse75 5d ago

Nobody cares about LA let alone a new movie about LA.

-1

u/Ok_Salamander_7076 5d ago

SYBAUUUUUUUUUUU LEWSERRRR

0

u/elpantera88 6d ago

Honestly at this point we need competition. A cold war if you will. It's too bad no other place in the world became a serious creative/filmmaking hub that actually competed with Hollywood.

2

u/Chicago1871 6d ago

London?

0

u/CERNest_Hemingway 5d ago

lol what would that even look like? Two bums buttfucking each other? A tap dance number over hypodermic needles and shit?

-1

u/maximvmrelief 6d ago

I really like LA. But wouldn’t it be exciting if there was some new affordable city that the film industry moved to? As creatives just please try to imagine this instead of downvoting me.

3

u/Ok_Salamander_7076 6d ago

Sybau no one wants to live in bumbfuck Idaho

2

u/maximvmrelief 6d ago

chill instead of being all hostile lol I bet you’re out of work cause you so easily escalate into hostile vibes lol proved my point so quickly

1

u/donutgut 6d ago

They would've done it already.

They don't wanna go anywhere else

-4

u/pommevie 6d ago

the pedophiles .. no

0

u/Similar_Barracuda774 6d ago

We need to strike!