The new normal for Hollywood production is beginning to take shape, and its posing challenges for advocates eager to attract more production to the L.A. area.

Thats one takeaway from a new report from production tracking service ProdPro that scrutinizes the state of filming in 2024 and surveys crew members, executives and suppliers on the outlook for 2025. The number of productions increased 18 percent last year and spend on those projects ramped up by $16.2 billion in comparison with 2023, when simultaneous writers and actors strikes shut down much of the business, according to the 2025 TV Film Outlook report, released Jan. 30. Still, that uptick fell short of expectations and 2022 levels of production by 11 percent. ProdPros report hardly covers all of the vast production landscape its analysis takes into account live-action, scripted productions commissioned by major U.S.-based companies with estimated budgets of over $1 million but it does offer a snapshot of the state of mainstream filmmaking during a period of intense contraction.

Television production bounced back in 2024 from a low point one year earlier, according to ProdPro, with the number of productions calculated rising from 397 to 494, representing a 24 percent increase. Still, the report points out, this figure falls short of the "Peak TV" period a few years earlier that regularly saw 600 to 650 series in the works: In 2022, for instance, 607 series were tabulated.

Production of feature-length films returned to levels that rivaled two years earlier, with 679 productions tracked in 2024 compared with 600 in 2023 and 706 in 2022. "These results indicate that the feature film sector is stabilizing more effectively than television, benefitting from audience demand and a renewed focus on theatrical releases as a key revenue driver," the report states.

In 2024, the U.S. remained the leader in production spend on projects originating from U.S. companies whose budgets exceeded $40 million. $14.54 billion was spent in the U.S. on these titles, as opposed to $5.91 billion in the U.K., $5.41 billion in Canada, $2.04 billion in Australia and New Zealand and $1 billion in Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic. But this content spend was still down 26 percent in the U.S. compared to 2022.

There are other concerning signs for domestic production in the report's survey of executives senior leaders in production and postproduction roles. Asked about their preferred filming locations for 2025-2026, no location in the U.S. made the top five slots. Instead, Toronto, the United Kingdom, Vancouver, Central Europe and Australia led the pack, while California came in sixth, Georgia seventh, New Jersey eighth and New York ninth.

While projecting an expectation that production volume will increase in 2025, executives also forecasted that their budgets will remain on par with one year earlier (42 percent of respondents) or come down slightly (39 percent). When asked about the top 10 cost-controlling measures they considered, studio executives ranked tax incentives first.

If non-U.S. territories continue to offer competitive incentives for film and television companies, L.A.-based entertainment industry workers currently pushing for more local production will continue to face challenges. Late last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed more than doubling the state's current tax credit cap for films and television series in order to combat work fleeing to other jurisdictions, a move that was applauded by unions. Some advocates insist that the governor's measure may not be enough to stem the tide of runaway production unless above-the-line costs and a greater diversity of productions can qualify for tax incentives.

And the push to encourage more local production has gotten only more intense in the wake of the destructive Palisades and Eaton Fires, which began on Jan. 7 and have displaced filmmakers and crew members alike. A petition calling for production to stay in L.A. has garnered more than 17,500 signatures, with supporters including Sarah Michelle Gellar, LeVar Burton, Lilly Wachowski and Alex Winter. "We need a flood of new work to help our beloved city rebuild itself and ensure LA's future viability as a place where craftspeople, film workers, and businesses thrive," the petition reads.

Filming in Los Angeles is bouncing back, though overall production last year hit historically low levels.