How the Industry Slowed — and What Comes Now
There’s something unsettling about an empty soundstage.
If you’ve spent any time around production, you know the feeling: stages that should be humming with generators and chatter instead sit still. Parking lots have space. Call sheets aren’t circulating the way they used to. For an industry built on motion, the stillness has been hard to ignore.
This slowdown didn’t arrive all at once, and it didn’t start in one place. It’s the result of years of overlapping disruptions — some local, some global — finally converging. But as 2025 drew to a close, there were also signs, however small, that the industry may be finding its footing again.
The roots of the downturn stretch back to the pandemic, when productions around the world shut down simultaneously. Even as filming resumed, the business side of the industry was changing fast. Streaming upended traditional revenue models, “peak TV” quietly receded, and studios began asking tougher questions about budgets, episode counts, and long-term sustainability.
Then came 2023.
The Writers Guild of America strike, followed by the SAG-AFTRA strike, froze much of the U.S. production pipeline for months. Scripts stopped moving forward. Shoots were postponed or scrapped entirely. And because Hollywood is deeply interconnected with international production, the impact wasn’t confined to Los Angeles. Projects in Canada, Europe, and Australia were also delayed when American writers and actors stepped away from work.
By the time agreements were reached, studios were left staring at a crowded slate and a new economic reality. Many responded by pulling back — fewer greenlights, shorter seasons, and longer gaps between projects.
In Los Angeles, the effects became increasingly visible. According to FilmLA, on-location filming in the region dropped sharply, with 2025 finishing roughly 16% below the previous year.
Those numbers translated into something very real for crews and facilities.
“We’re going to have fewer studios.”
— Carl Muhlstein, industry broker
“We mourn what everybody’s going through… we’re in the land of ‘I don’t know.’”
— Craig Darian, Occidental Studios.
What’s happening in Los Angeles mirrors a broader global recalibration.
As studios tightened budgets, productions increasingly chased incentives and lower costs abroad. Canada, the U.K., and parts of Europe continued to expand their tax credit programs, making them attractive alternatives for projects that might once have defaulted to California.
Against that backdrop, the end of 2025 brought a subtle but meaningful change.
FilmLA reported that Los Angeles shoot days increased by roughly 5–6% in Q4 compared to Q3. In isolation, it’s a modest bump. But after months of steady decline, it stood out as the first sign that production activity might be leveling off rather than continuing to slide.
“While the year-end numbers are disappointing, they are not unexpected… there are dozens of incentivized projects that have yet to begin filming.” — Philip Sokoloski, FilmLA
That cautious optimism is being echoed beyond the data. Community-driven efforts like StayInLA.com have emerged as rallying points for crew members, businesses, and advocates working to keep production rooted in Los Angeles while strengthening its competitiveness in a global market. The goal isn’t nostalgia — it’s sustainability.
Hollywood’s slowdown has been deeply felt — in empty stages, in quieter rental houses, in conversations that start with “Have you heard anything yet?” But the story isn’t one of collapse. It’s one of transition — and of a community actively working to shape what comes next.
At Kino Flo, we’ve always believed that lighting is more than a tool — it’s a constant on set, regardless of budget size, location, or production scale. In moments like this, our focus stays the same: supporting filmmakers, crews, and educators wherever stories are being told.
Whether production is happening on a major soundstage in Los Angeles or a small location halfway around the world, the craft endures. As the industry recalibrates and finds its next rhythm, we remain committed to building tools that adapt, last, and help keep sets lit — even when the path forward feels uncertain
