Could Hollywood lose its luster after being famous for being the filmmaking capital of the world for nearly a century?
This is what Irish actor Chris O’Dowd pointed out in a recent interview with Kevin Maher: “They film trifles in Los Angeles! It’s not the center of the industry anymore. It’s true that meetings still take place there. But the films are likely to be shot in Vancouver or Atlanta. Or wherever the tax breaks are good for that year."
Writer Ed Botton, in his report published by the British newspaper "The Sunday Times", said that film and television productions are increasingly moving to those cities, or further to the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa and Eastern Europe, motivated by generous financial incentives and skilled actors. and crew work.
California has become an expensive and complicated place to shoot movies, with rising labor and rent costs, strong unions, strict regulations, water rationing, and the potential for natural disasters such as wildfires.
A good example of this is when Amazon decided to move production of its "Lord of the Rings" movie away from New Zealand for the second season, shifting not to the United States but to the United Kingdom, where the burgeoning film industry is worth more than 3 billion pounds, This is despite the turmoil caused by Britain's exit from the European Union.
The writer added that O'Dawud's comments were echoed by many of the UK-based actors he met, including Michael Fassbender, Emily Watson and Dennis Gove.
They were once expected to make the move to Hollywood, but now they just need an agent there and attend a one-on-one meeting or audition.
Meanwhile, Hollywood stars like Tom Cruise and Charlize Theron are moving in the opposite direction, spending months on film projects in London.
Rumors of California "millionaire tax" increases may also have a clue.
Tom Cruise during the filming of "Mission Impossible 7" (communication sites)
Cruz has successfully lobbied British Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, on behalf of Paramount Studios, to allow production of a new part of Mission: Impossible during the pandemic.
Atlanta is one of the UK's competitors. It has great studios and offers tax breaks of around 20% and has been dubbed the "Hollywood of the South."
Two of this summer's biggest films, "Jungle Cruise" and "The Suicide Squad," have been filmed there, as well as a slew of Marvel films including the last two Avengers films and the upcoming sequel to Black Panther.
Atlanta is one of the United Kingdom's competitors, as it has "South Hollywood" studios, and the Suicide Squad movie was filmed in it (communication sites)
This year, Livesden Studios in Hartfordshire will host Mission: Impossible 7 and the upcoming Fantastic Beasts movie, Robert Pattinson's Batman and the House of the Dragons series from Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones and Wonka starring Timothée Chalamet. Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, which is largely controlled by Disney, is home to the new Indiana Jones movie, two Star Wars spin-offs, the live-action version of Snow White, and Ant-Man. Man and the new Guardians of the Galaxy.
Shepperton Studios in Surrey, which Netflix made its permanent UK base in 2019, is the filming location for Knives Out 2, the Matilda remake by Matthew Warchus, and Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, while Long Cross Studios In Saray, the new "Doctor Strange" and "Captain Marvel" films are filmed.
Much of the boom is due to the UK offering tax breaks of close to 30% to filmmakers, which could rise to around 40% if they use the country's leading post-production studios, the writer noted.
Warner Bros. was the first major American studio to gain a permanent foothold in the UK, settling in Levisden to shoot the Harry Potter films in the late 1990s.
The original Star Wars trilogy was filmed at Ulster Studios in Hertfordshire.
The colonization of Levisden was part of the wave of globalization that affected the film industry.
Soon, Mexican directors such as Alfonso Cuaron and South Korean directors such as Bong Joon-ho were garnering big Oscars.
The pace of the move away from Hollywood has also accelerated thanks to the emergence of broadcasting services that are becoming more flexible, less bound by tradition, and more committed to producing local content.
Netflix has a production center in Spain and a presence in France, Italy and Scandinavia, and has produced international translated works, including the Spanish “La Casa De Papel” and the French “Lupin”.
Netflix owns a production center in Spain and has a presence in France, Italy and Scandinavia (communication sites)
Jerry, a UK-based art director working on big-budget Hollywood films who doesn't want to be given his real name, thinks this was a very controversial decision to move an industry from its home country to a completely different country. for the freedom enjoyed by these productions.
No matter how much money Amazon has spent, they can still do the math and say "you know what, we'd still be better off if we moved to the UK".
However, Jerry adds, Hollywood is still the "creation and finance hub" of the big traditional studios where "all the productions are launched from there, pitching and scriptwriting, and then they find their talent and their core crew, and then they move to whatever area can offer the best deal".
It's a little different for streaming providers, says Matt Muller, editor of trade magazine Screen International, "Netflix is transferring some of that power to its regional offices because it's trying to create content that appeals to local audiences. In places like France, there are laws about investing a certain amount." From the money you get from a country in the local production in French.”
The series "House of Cards", "La Casa de Papel", produced by Netflix and filmed in Spain (communication sites)
The writer quoted Anna Mallet, Vice President of Netflix responsible for physical production for the United Kingdom, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia, that the Netflix division in the United Kingdom is the third largest division after the United States and Canada.
Netflix's production budget in the UK is more than £1 billion this year, out of a global budget of around $13 billion (£9.5 billion).
"The UK is a very attractive place for filmmaking, and it has some of the best creators in the world, along with the staff and post-production. Shepperton Studios is a world-class facility and we're also thinking of locations outside the familiar, whether it's Bath for Bridgeton or the Lake District." "The Witcher."
"In a way, the UK has become very successful," Mueller asserts.
Abundant production means that there is already a shortage of skills.
Even prestigious projects like 'Kit Bug', Ridley Scott's Napoleon movie starring Joaquin Phoenix, have struggled to fill creative vacancies.
"The UK has to be really careful," says Jerry. "There's a tipping point, and we're a bit worried about that. If too many productions come in here and you end up with too many inexperienced people working or you can't make it. access to equipment, producers will have bad experiences in the country."
He adds that a lot of movies are still being shot in Hollywood.
"The US will continue to be an important place for the film and television industry," Mallett says. "It's not a choice between this or that, it's both. We make content all over the world, and it's not about moving from one place to another."
"California is resisting with some new movie and TV tax incentives and a bill for more voice space, because they want to stop out-of-state job migration," Mueller says.
In return, Jerry says, "they need to solve their problems, although we all hope and pray that they don't."
If California changes its tax laws and offers competitive incentives to filmmakers, "the UK is going to be in trouble. These studios may be empty tomorrow. Look what happened in New Zealand. These guys were expecting to work for the next 5 years."
The writer concluded that no one knows how the industry will develop in 5 years.
Projects such as Disney's "The Mandalorian" are increasingly moving away from traditional movie sets as they are digitally created.
Perhaps in the future, movies will be made with supercomputers, and their heroes will be a virtual version of Tom Cruise.