According to a report from film and TV tracking company ProdPro, global film and TV production was down 7% during the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous year. This illustrates that Hollywood may be slow to return to work in light of the writers’ and actors’ strikes.
As a relatively new firm that follows the production of film and TV around the world, ProdPro also found that production volume and spending levels were at least 50% lower over the last 12 months as compared to the same period a year ago. This comes in the aftermath of both strikes, which largely prevented film and TV shoots for almost six months straight, during which entertainment workers and companies seemed ready to return and resume filming immediately. However, production has not rebounded as quickly, nor as strongly, as many had hoped for in the Los Angeles area.
This recent decline continues a larger trend that dates back to 2022, during which time the entertainment industry felt the weight of studios’ overspending during the streaming wars of the early 2020s. Since then, companies have been cutting back on both staff and content to make up for financial losses.
In the first week of 2024, 73 English-language films and TV projects were being shot in the United States, compared with the 136 that were being shot in the first week of 2022, per ProdPro’s report. By late March of 2024, that number had risen to 135—which was still lagging behind 2022’s total of 157.
Globally, at least 148 scripted TV productions began filming in the first quarter of 2023, compared with the 140 that took place during the same timeframe of 2024. Meanwhile, only 165 feature films began their productions during the first quarter of 2024, as compared to 216 in 2023.
While productions for the big and small screen have been slow to start this year, ProdPro has reported that “a significant number” of both TV series and feature films are in development and ready to begin filming in the third and fourth quarters of 2024.
ProdPro’s study notes that “studios are presumed to be holding back in part because of the uncertainty around the ongoing” contract campaigns by both the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and Teamsters Local 399—two labor unions that are advocating for Hollywood crew members.
IATSE entered general contract negotiations with the alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents major studios such as Disney, Warner Bros., and Netflix. This is the most critical phase of negotiations that could result in a tentative deal or another work stoppage, depending on how discussions play out.
General negotiations are anticipated to cover issues related to pension, pay, health benefits, work-life balance, as well as job security, streaming residuals, and artificial intelligence.
“It’s civil,” Matthew Loeb, the international president of IATSE, was quoted as saying about the current stage of bargaining. “Everybody wants to avoid a strike. But that’s not to say that it’s a foregone conclusion that they’ll meet our demands.”
