You can almost hear the wailing tears from New York. Hollywood, an industry used to outrageously high paychecks, is declaring they are already “assured to bottom out” in 2020 due to the coronavirus. As if we weren’t aware; but we have our own “bottoming out” worry about. The on-location organization of FilmLA proclaims, “as of today, with the shutdown posed to extend deep into the second quarter, FilmLA analysts predict that local Shoot Day losses are already unrecoverable for the year.”
Deadline reports that even with “years of now buoyant tax credits from the state, the L.A. County area was down 18% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.” Add in COVID and closing stages, sets, and studios, the result is “a smash to the solar plexus of an industry that has seen fairly consistent growth over much of the past several years, especially thanks to the rise of streaming services” according to Deadline.
Film L.A. Communications boss Philip Sokoloski said with the “100% decline in production” already in the year, “we predict that no matter when production returns to LA in 2020 and at what level, the entire year will finish deep in the red.” Because the entertainment industry is largely comprised of contract and freelance based work, it is likely the majority of the workers have applied for some sort of government compensation and/or unemployment.
The latest numbers from the Labor Department “now put those out of work at 16% or 26.5 million – a figure unheard of in America since the Great Depression of the 1930s.” But, notes Deadline, “unlike the era of Gold Diggers of 1933, Hollywood has taken a bloody body blow in this health and economic crisis. Production is closed, as are almost all theaters, which were full during the Great Depression.” Could it be that this is the first time Hollywood is suffering to the same degree as the rest of the population? Hollywood has become accustomed to being an ‘exception’ and a profitable industry.
Deadline has two additional articles that may provide some level of insight into the industry’s turmoil. First is the headline which speaks for itself: “Frozen 2’ Skates Away With Near $600M Profit: No.2 In Deadline’s 2019 Most Valuable Blockbuster Tournament.” That’s a lot of money…for very few people. Yet Hollywood still want their checks from the government instead of helping its own. Let’s take bets to see if any of Hollywood’s millionaires and billionaires redistribute their wealth to the workers who helped them make their money in the first place. The same workers who are now out of a job and getting in line for stimulus checks.
A second article involves Walt Disney megabrand. Impressively, Abigail Disney took to Twitter to condemn the company’s plan to layoff 100,000 workers, mostly in its theme park division. “What the actual f-k????” begins her 25-tweet thread rant. Deadline notes she is referring to a recent Financial Times article which estimated shareholder dividend, to which she tweeted that $1.5 billion would “pay for three months’ salary to front line workers. And it’s going to people who have already been collecting egregious bonuses for years.” She added paying bonuses during the pandemic is “the REAL outrage.”
Deadline’s article states “Disney has been disproportionately ravaged by the virus, which has shut down its theme parks, hotels, and cruise ships. No live sports are being played, which has hit ESPN and ABC during a season when they would ordinarily be reaping big ratings from the NBA playoffs. And theatrical moviegoing has ground to a halt.” Abigail Disney tweeted the company “faces a rough couple of years, to be sure…the challenges are existential, even. But that does not constitute permission to continue pillaging and rampaging by management.”
Amen. Welcome to planet earth, Hollywood.
