Hollywood is rewriting its script

WHEN ACTOR and filmmaker Mel Gibson grumbled during a recent podcast appearance that it was cheaper to fly his entire U.S.-based crew to Bulgaria for three days than to shoot just one day in California, he echoed the same eulogy sounded across three national outlets.

- RACHEL ZASLANSKY SHEER AND LORI ZUKER BRILLER

The Wall Street Journal called Los Angeles’ entertainment economy a “disaster movie.” The DailyMail warned that California is “the next Detroit.” And UnHerd columnist Joel Kotkin wrote that L.A. is losing not only its creative workforce but its visitors.

All of that may be true in part, but every obituary of Hollywood misses the same plot twist.

Yes, traditional studio filmmaking is shrinking as tax incentives instituted in other states and countries lure productions away. But Los Angeles is no longer defined by only its soundstages. It’s defined by its talent — and the talent in California is not vanishing; it’s evolving.

Walk through Culver City or Burbank and cranes still fill the skyline, not to build backlots but for construction of new media campuses, post-production labs and tech-meets-storytelling startups. The next generation of production companies — digital-first studios, brand-funded entertainment firms, short-form production collectives and podcast networks — is being established here. They may not yet be household names, but their reach is already global.