Los Angeles is still the king of production… but the crown is starting to wobble. According to FilmLA’s latest Sound Stage Production Report, L.A. County remains the global leader in studio space, with 8.3 million square feet of sound stages, including 6.9 million square feet of certified space. That’s still the biggest footprint in the world. No small thing.
But here’s the catch: the competition is catching up fast.
Regions like the UK and New York have doubled their studio space over the past five years, and they’re pairing that growth with aggressive tax incentives. Translation: they’re not just building stages, they’re stealing business. And the numbers inside L.A. tell a more complicated story.
Production activity is shifting. While the total number of projects increased by 5% (from 1,225 to 1,287), the total number of shoot days dropped by 8%, largely driven by a steep 23% decline in scripted TV production. That’s the engine of the business, and it’s sputtering.
At the same time, other categories are picking up slack. Feature films, commercials, music videos, and non-traditional uses like events and rehearsals all saw growth. So production isn’t disappearing, it’s just changing shape.
There’s also movement on the infrastructure side. Two new studio facilities opened in early 2026, East End Studios in Boyle Heights and Cinespace Studios in Woodland Hills, with several more projects in development, including a six-stage facility in Sylmar. L.A. is still building, still investing, still fighting.
And occupancy? It’s holding… but not at historic highs.
After years of hovering in the 90%+ range, studio occupancy dropped to 63% in 2024 and was around 62% in early 2025. That’s stable, but it’s not the packed-to-the-brim Hollywood of old.
The good news is that policy is starting to respond. California’s Soundstage Filming Tax Credit Program, a $150 million initiative running through 2032, is designed to incentivize productions to shoot on newly built or renovated stages.
FilmLA is framing the moment as resilient rather than declining. But let’s be real for a second, this is a transition period.
L.A. still has the talent, the infrastructure, the history, and the scale. But other markets now have the incentives, the space, and the momentum.
And in this business, momentum travels. The takeaway? Hollywood isn’t going anywhere. But if it wants to stay Hollywood, it’s going to have to fight for it.
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