LA Is Building More Stages Than Ever, So Why Are They Empty? – FilmLA Sound Stage Report

Industry News

by Nino LeitnerMarch 23^rd, 2026

Subscribe to News - Industry

FilmLA Research has published its eighth annual Sound Stage Production Report, and the numbers confirm what a recent Bloomberg documentary called an “increasingly ghost-town feel” across Hollywood: Los Angeles County still leads the world with 8.3 million square feet of total stage space, but occupancy sits at just 62 percent, a staggering drop from the mid-90s percentile that defined the market through 2022.

The report draws on data from 17 studio participants, including all major legacy studios and the larger independents, covering approximately 75 percent of the county’s 6.9 million square feet of certified stage space. Its release comes just days after Bloomberg Originals published “Why Hollywood Is Facing a Very Unhappy Ending,” a documentary that paints a visceral picture of an industry grappling with empty stages, mass layoffs, and what one interviewee described as “existential dread” among workers. Taken together, the data and the human stories it represents tell a sobering tale of an industry at a crossroads.

New facilities opening into an uncertain market

The first quarter of 2026 has already brought two new sound stage facilities online. East End Studios opened its five-stage Mission Campus in Boyle Heights in January, while Cinespace Studios launched its six-stage Woodland Hills facility in March. Beyond these completed builds, FilmLA Research is tracking seven additional planned studio projects or renovations. The closest to completion is Sylmar Studios’ upcoming six-stage facility, expected to open this month, adding 300,000 square feet of stage space and making it one of the largest single additions to the LA market in recent memory.

Other projects in various stages of planning and construction include Echelon Studios’ five-stage Hollywood facility (targeting Q4 2026), Stocker Street Creative in Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw with five stages and a 2029 opening timeline, and the ambitious TVC 2050 (Television City) expansion with 15 stages still in its entitlement phase. Fox’s planned nine-stage development in Century City and Radford Studio Center’s expansion in Studio City are also on the horizon but remain in earlier planning stages. Notably, the Bloomberg documentary highlighted that Goldman Sachs recently foreclosed on Radford Studios due to unpaid debts, a stark illustration of the financial pressures facing even established facilities in the current climate.

The numbers behind the “ghost town”

The Bloomberg piece featured an industry professional walking through an empty sound stage, observing that it was “astounding” how little production was happening in Los Angeles. The FilmLA data quantifies that observation. Total shoot days on participant stages declined by 8 percent between 2023 and 2024, dropping from 8,671 to 7,940. And while total projects rose slightly by 5 percent (from 1,225 to 1,287), that gap between more projects and fewer shoot days suggests productions are getting shorter on average, consistent with tighter schedules and smaller-scale content.

The biggest drag came from scripted television, which declined by 23 percent on participant stages between 2023 and 2024. One-hour series, traditionally the backbone of LA stage utilization, fell from 3,768 to 2,760 shoot days, while half-hour series dropped from 1,550 to 1,310. These numbers are a continuation of the broader scripted TV contraction that we have been tracking through FilmLA’s quarterly reports over the past year.

Compare this to the picture Bloomberg paints of the broader market: total LA shoot days for 2025 were down over 16 percent compared to 2024, and drastically lower than the 2016 peak. Employment in California’s motion picture industry peaked that same year and, according to the documentary, has never fully recovered.

What the streaming boom left behind

The Bloomberg documentary traces much of the current crisis back to the streaming gold rush. The arrival of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and then Disney+, Paramount+, and HBO Max triggered a decade-long spending spree as platforms competed to stockpile content and subscribers. That era is over. As the documentary notes, that boom came crashing down in 2022 when every major streamer was losing billions. The 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes then shut down scripted production for months, and when the dust settled, studios realized they could operate with significantly less output. They cut staff, slashed spending on original content, and never looked back.

The FilmLA data reflects this shift with painful clarity. In 2018, participant stages logged 14,491 total shoot days. By 2024, that number had nearly halved to 7,940. One-hour series alone dropped from 6,769 shoot days in 2018 to 2,760 in 2024, a decline of nearly 60 percent. These are not minor fluctuations; they represent a fundamental restructuring of how much content gets made and where it gets made.

The human cost

While the FilmLA report deals in square footage and shoot days, the Bloomberg documentary puts faces to the numbers. An Oscar and BAFTA-winning sound mixer described having just 10 union work days in all of 2025. A television writer who had risen through the ranks was forced to take a demotion back to an assistant position. Another industry worker took a part-time job at World Market to stay afloat. Several interviewees described dipping into retirement savings just to cover basic expenses.

One sound professional put it bluntly: when sound people are not working, it means nobody is working. That sentiment aligns with the FilmLA occupancy data, which shows stages sitting empty at rates not seen in the modern era. As we have reported previously, the production downturn has hit across all levels of the industry, from above-the-line talent to the craft services teams that keep sets running.

Bright spots in the data

Not all categories moved in the wrong direction. Feature films on participant stages grew from 316 to 403 shoot days, a 28 percent increase year over year. Commercials saw a meaningful jump from 393 to 697 shoot days, though these numbers still trail the pre-pandemic benchmarks significantly (903 shoot days in 2018). Music videos nearly doubled their project count from 30 to 43, with shoot days climbing from 93 to 137.

Virtual production continued its steady growth trajectory, rising from 217 to 264 shoot days and from 59 to 66 projects. The upward trend over the past four years (from 79 shoot days in 2021 to 264 in 2024) reflects the increasing adoption of LED volume stages and virtual production workflows across the industry.

The Bloomberg documentary also found reasons for cautious optimism. Companies like A24, now valued at $3.5 billion, have demonstrated that disciplined budgets and bold storytelling can compete with the old studio playbook. An independent producer interviewed in the piece noted receiving more business inquiries than she could keep up with, suggesting that the creative drive within the industry remains strong even as the traditional infrastructure struggles.

Global competition is not slowing down

Los Angeles County’s 8.3 million square feet of total stage space still leads globally, but the gap is narrowing fast. The UK stands at 7.7 million square feet, having doubled its studio inventory over the past five years. Ontario follows with 3.7 million square feet, while Georgia (3.5 million), New York (3.4 million), and British Columbia (2.3 million) round out the competitive landscape.

The Bloomberg documentary underscores that much of the production that has left California has gone overseas, to places like the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, drawn by more aggressive tax incentive programs. As one interviewee noted, productions are leaving not just for other US states but increasingly for international destinations that offer better financial terms. This is a dynamic we have covered extensively and one that California’s expanded incentive programs are specifically designed to address.

Can incentives turn the tide?

FilmLA spokesperson Philip Sokoloski struck an optimistic note in the report, pointing to recent pro-filming policy developments at both the state and local level. The California Soundstage Filming Tax Credit Program (SFP), funded at $150 million over a ten-year period from 2022 through 2032, provides tax credit reservations for qualified projects filming on newly constructed, renovated, or converted certified soundstages. This operates alongside the broader California Film & Television Tax Credit expansion that raised credits from 20 to 35 percent and tripled funding for independent films.

Whether these measures will be enough is the central question. The Bloomberg documentary captures the tension perfectly: the industry is simultaneously contracting and evolving. YouTube now commands over 13 percent of connected TV audiences and growing, fragmenting attention away from traditional film and television. The average American attends fewer than four movies a year, down from roughly five a decade ago. Ticket sales remain nearly $3.5 billion below 2018 levels. And AI looms as both a productivity tool and an existential threat, with the potential to reduce the need for sets, cameras, and crews at various levels of production.

A smaller, scrappier Hollywood?

The Bloomberg piece ends on a note that resonates with the FilmLA data. Several interviewees suggested that the industry is not dying but rather transforming into something smaller and scrappier. The heart of the business, they argued, will always be storytelling. But the infrastructure built for the peak content era, including millions of square feet of sound stages, may no longer match the scale of what gets produced.

The FilmLA report inadvertently confirms this thesis. Occupancy peaked in 2016 at 96 percent and held in the 90s through 2022. It now sits at 62 percent, even before the newest facilities have come fully online. The question is not whether LA will remain a production center; it almost certainly will. The question is whether the production volumes will ever justify the stage space being built today, or whether the industry is constructing for a version of Hollywood that no longer exists.

The full eighth annual Sound Stage Production Report is available through FilmLA’s research division. The Bloomberg Originals documentary “Why Hollywood Is Facing a Very Unhappy Ending” is available on Bloomberg’s website and YouTube channel.

Are we witnessing the birth of a leaner, more independent Hollywood, or the slow erosion of the production infrastructure that made Los Angeles the entertainment capital of the world? If you are working in the industry right now, whether on a stage, on location, or trying to find your next gig, we want to hear from you. Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!