Hollywood Wants A Bailout From American Taxpayers—The Response Should Be, 'Cut'

The makers of movies and television series want help from Washington, but the requested subsidies won't cure what ails the entertainment industry.

Now it's true that the industry is having rough times.

Thanks to generous incentives and outright subsidies, many films and TV series, and not just big budget ones, are being produced outside the US in places like Canada, Britain, India, Australia, Hungary, and elsewhere.

The employment numbers bespeak trouble.

Employment has plummeted since 2022 from 150,000 to under 100,000 today.

Labor costs are hugely high in the US versus other locations.

Washington is heavily unionized.

Despite competition from other localities and countries and the feared threats to jobs from AI, Hollywood actors and writers went on a four-month strike in 2023.

The costly settlement just made the industry's predicament worse.

On top of that, Los Angeles hits Hollywood with all sorts of costly regulations and restrictions.

Also adding pressure is streamlining.

Movie ticket sales are down 40% from 2019.

Streaming services give independent movie makers distribution platforms for low-cost productions.

AI and technological advances are enabling individuals to produce better and better entertainment products than ever before.

The enormous complex film production infrastructure that Hollywood has developed over the years matters less and less.