In an industrial yard behind Burbank's Bob Hope Airport, dozens of orange forklifts and 135-foot-high booms stand idle, gleaming in the afternoon sunlight. As recently as two years ago, the yard was largely empty because the equipment was busy being used to hoist cameras, rig lights and build sets for "Iron Man," "Get Smart," "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and other movies shooting throughout Southern California.
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As the Hollywood machine abandons L.A., its supporting workers struggle
Small, blue-collar businesses that sustain California's entertainment industry -- prop houses, studio equipment shops -- fight for business as film production migrates to incentive-rich states.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, July 16, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 54 words Type of Material: Correction
Hollywood production drop: An article in Sunday's Section A about the struggles facing small businesses that serve the film and TV industries said that James Cella, president of Culver Studios, previously ran Steiner Studios in New York. Cella served as a senior consultant for Steiner and lobbied for tax credits that helped launch it.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, July 19, 2009 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 4 National Desk 1 inches; 56 words Type of Material: Correction
Hollywood production drop: An article in the July 12 Section A about the struggles facing small businesses that serve the film and TV industries said that James Cella, president of Culver Studios, previously ran Steiner Studios in New York. Cella served as a senior consultant for Steiner and lobbied for tax credits that helped launch it.
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"I've been doing this for 25 years and I've never seen such a sustained downtime," said Lance Sorenson, president of 24/7 Studio Equipment, who recently had to lay off two of his drivers and has imposed three- and four-day workweeks for the rest of his 44 employees.
Across town in Culver City, at the landmark studio where "Gone with the Wind," "Citizen Kane," "The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet" and "The Andy Griffith Show" were filmed, there's a similar story. Now an independent production facility known as the Culver Studios, the soundstage complex just lost one of its largest tenants, the syndicated game show "Deal or No Deal." That program will tape future episodes in Waterford, Conn., a suburban town known for its nuclear power plant, large state park and assortment of shops and family-owned restaurants. The chief draw: Connecticut's 30% production-tax credit.
"It's a huge blow to us," said James Cella, president of the Culver Studios.
Others also have been hard hit by the outflow of production to other areas, known as runaway production.
At Modern Props, also in the Culver City area, nearly half the employees have been laid off, and those remaining are on 20- to 40-hour workweeks. John Zabrucky, the company's founder, thought he'd gotten ahead by opening a satellite office in Vancouver, Canada. But now so many states are offering tax incentives to film and television producers that he can't keep up.
Hundreds of small blue-collar businesses like these sustain Southern California's entertainment industry. Many are struggling amid a sharp drop in local film and TV production triggered by the recession, a rise in runaway production, and the fallout from a writer's strike and a yearlong contract dispute between studios and the Screen Actors Guild. According to the state Employment Development Department, jobs in movie and television production were down 13,800 in May compared with a year earlier.
