Mel Gibson recently shared his thoughts on why the film and TV industry is dying in California.
In an interview with Brian Entin on YouTube, Gibson first observed how much cheaper and cost effective it is to film outside of California. He said, “It was more cost effective to take them all over there, have jet lag, spend for 3 days, and pick it up that way. That’s pretty common, I think. And that sort of, in a nutshell, tells you the story of the whole industry there.”
“It’s being outsourced to other places, where it’s cheaper to shoot, more cost effective, better tax incentives like Atlanta or New York or Bulgaria, or even I’m over here in Italy at the moment,” he continued. “They have better incentives and the food is better. And it costs about a third as much as it does in California.”
“See, the cost of living skyrocketed as well,” he observed. “Everything’s very expensive. And all the people that work on film are finding it hard to make a living there and pay their way with the cost of living the way it is. It’s just gone to hell altogether.”
As for who is to blame, Gibson said, “I blame it on the leadership of the state of California. There’s other things that came into play. There was a big strike that slowed everybody down. On the heels of that you had Covid which was a real joy. And then you had the fires, the wildfires. And I think that was totally mismanaged by our leaders in California. I think that this confluence of things just eroded the industry there to point productions down everywhere.”
From there Gibson shared that many people have left the state to find the work as well. “The people with the expertise, and I don’t mean just, directors, producers, and all that sort of stuff. I mean, right across the board, down to the guy that makes the coffee. They have to go other places. And they have done. And they’ve taken their expertise with them. The states where they’ve gone have benefited by their knowledge and their talents. And we’ve gone wanting where we are.”
“It’s a real mess,” Gibson said. “A lot of the people who once kept that industry alive and thriving have left for greener pastures and you can’t blame them. And I just think the industry is dying there. And it used to be the Mecca. When I went there, years ago, I was working there, the place was just booming. Through the 80s, 90s, even after the turn of the millennium it was still cooking. But sadly it’s all gone to hell and a hand basket. And I blame our leaders.”
Later in the interview, Gibson shared, “It used to be the mecca of filmdom and television, but it’s not anymore. And I doubt they’ll recover or if they do, it’s going to take a long time.”
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Absolutely agree. I spent ten years in Los Angeles trying to break into Hollywood by writing screenplays, from '02 to '12. Then I left for greener pastures, along with the coffee maker guy. Life is better out here in flyover country.
My daughter has worked in Hollywood for decades as a post-production supervisor & producer and this year she had a very hard time finding another job after her last one with Hulu ended. She finally got another one with a Peacock show which doesn't start until April! I kept telling her years ago and that companies and people were leaving California but she wouldn't believe me. Now it's hitting home unfortunately and being a liberal, she's part of the problem! Another example of Get Woke, Go Broke.