Hollywood

Shortly after President Trump stunned Hollywood with his call for tariffs on films produced overseas, California Gov. Gavin Newsom waded into the debate with an unexpected offer.

Despite the public enmity between the two, Newsom reached out to the White House in hopes of working together on the creation of a $7.5-billion federal tax incentive to keep more productions in the U.S.

Hollywood insiders have wanted a federal tax incentive program all along. Some publicly cheered Newsom’s Monday proposal.

Many lawmakers, including Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) and Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), have advocated for a national program to try to put the U.S. on a more equal footing with foreign countries that offer generous incentives.

But such an initiative faces significant obstacles.

It will be a difficult sell to the average American taxpayer, who may not be eager to support an industry viewed as wealthy and politically liberal. It’s unclear where funding for the U.S. entertainment industry ranks on a list of ever-growing national priorities.

“I would give it 50/50 at best,” Sanjay Sharma, who teaches media and entertainment finance at USC’s Marshall School of Business, said of the incentive’s odds.

Recently, a coalition of Hollywood unions and industry trade groups — including the Motion Picture Assn. and guilds representing screenwriters, directors and actors — backed the idea of a domestic production incentive. They said the proposal would advance the administration’s goal of reshoring American jobs and providing economic growth around the country.

“As Congress undertakes 2025 tax legislation, we urge lawmakers to include a production incentive to support film and television production made by workers in America,” the coalition said in a statement.

But with so many competing priorities facing the country, including infrastructure, homelessness and the opioid crisis, lawmakers could face an uphill battle in justifying a vote to effectively subsidize the entertainment industry.

“The political optics on it are going to be very, very difficult,” said George Huang, a professor of screenwriting at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. “To most people, [the entertainment industry] seems like a frivolous thing.”

Even if a federal film tax incentive were to pass, it’s not a guarantee that filming would automatically flow back to the U.S., particularly if other countries chose to increase their own tax credit programs in response, he said.

But such a proposal would provide much-needed support for the entertainment industry, which has been battered in recent years by the effects of the pandemic, the dual writers’ and actors’ strikes in 2023 and cutbacks in spending by the studios.

The situation has created what leaders call an employment crisis in the film and TV business, particularly in California.

“Right now the industry is teetering,” Huang said. “This would go a long way in helping right the ship and putting us back on course to being the capital of the entertainment world.”

A federal tax incentive was part of a proposal from actor Jon Voight, one of Trump’s so-called Hollywood ambassadors, and his manager, Steven Paul, who traveled to Mar-a-Lago last weekend to present Trump with a plan on bringing filming jobs back to the U.S.

That proposal included a 10% to 20% federal tax credit that could be added on top of individual state incentives, according to a document published by Deadline.

MPA Chief Executive Charles H. Rivkin also met with Voight last week, according to a source familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment.

After the Deadline story published, Paul cautioned that the document was not meant as a full-on policy proposal.

“The document does not claim to represent collective views of the participating film and television organizations, but serves as a compilation of ideas explored in our discussions on how to strengthen our position as creative leaders,” Paul wrote.

In the meantime, the MPA and others have also lobbied Congress to extend and strengthen Section 181 of the federal tax code to encourage more films to stay in the U.S.

Such a move could boost smaller, independent productions as well as studio films. The section addressing film production was enacted in 2004 amid a recognition that more films were moving to Canada and Europe, and the U.S. needed to remain competitive.

Section 181 allows up to $15 million of qualified film and TV production expenses to be deductible during the year in which they were incurred — or up to $20 million if the project was produced in a low-income area, according to the MPA. Productions can qualify if three-quarters of their labor costs were in the U.S.

The measure allows filmmakers to take the deduction when the cost is incurred, rather than after the film is released. That’s important to independent filmmakers who often work on shoestring budgets and can’t wait for years to see the benefit.

“If there is a bright side, maybe some of the U.S.-based companies will start taking a look at their domestic production levels,” said Frank Albarella Jr., a partner at KPMG in its media and telecommunications unit. “Maybe there will be some more federal and state incentives right here in the U.S. That’s what people are hoping for.”

Times staff writer Stacy Perman contributed to this report.

Since Sunday night, Hollywood has been trying to make heads or tails of President Trump’s bombshell proposal to levy 100% tariffs on films made outside of the U.S.

Ostensibly, the Trump tariff plan is part of an effort to bring Hollywood productions back home, after decades of runaway production.

Remarkably few movies are made entirely in the U.S. — let alone Los Angeles — because studios have been lured abroad to countries including Canada, Britain, Australia, Hungary and Bulgaria by generous government incentives. Special effects are often outsourced overseas.

This has contributed to what leaders in California now call a crisis for the state’s production economy. The Los Angeles area also faces stiff competition from other states, including Georgia and New York.

So Trump has clearly identified a real problem, though the solution he offered is questionable, to say the least. Filmmakers say they want to shoot in the States but need help to make it financially feasible. Tariffs won’t help with that. In fact, they’ll make it worse.

“It’s great that the president is starting to pay attention,” said Jeffrey Greenstein, who has produced movies shot in multiple countries. “So let’s have a real conversation about it and figure out the best way to start bringing movies back.”

The chaotic and vague way Trump’s plan was announced sent studio executives scrambling to figure out what it all meant. The notion seemed ill-thought-out and knee-jerk, many producers said.

How do you even put a tariff on movies, which are distributed digitally? Why tariffs, rather than a robust national tax credit program, which many in the industry have advocated for?

“Nobody knows and I don’t suspect we will for awhile,” said one executive who was not authorized to comment. “Is [the tariff] on domestically funded foreign productions? Is it on foreign funded ones? Is the tariff on film revenues or film costs on those projects or both, etc., etc., etc. What constitutes a feature? Who knows.”

Who knows, indeed.

Before Sunday’s announcement, actor Jon Voight, one of Trump’s “special ambassadors” to Hollywood, traveled to Florida with his manager Steven Paul for a meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago to present a plan for the film industry. Ideas addressed included federal tax incentives, job training and “tariffs in certain limited circumstances,” according to a statement from Paul’s production company.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has now called on Trump to create a $7.5-billion federal film tax credit program. The governor’s office reached out to the White House Monday evening to encourage Trump to work with California to create a federal credit modeled after the state’s program.

Some executives and producers said the tariff idea would hasten Hollywood’s demise rather than save it, because of the increased costs for studios that are already under financial pressure. Reciprocal tariffs from other territories could follow. China is already getting more restrictive for American movies thanks to Trump trade policies.

Already, there are signs that the administration might be walking the proposal back, leaving entertainment business analysts to doubt that the idea will actually go into effect.

Nonetheless, the turmoil could cast a pall over the Cannes Film Festival this month, where a lot of indie movie deals happen.

“It still creates a headache for the film business and particularly indie film if there is yet more uncertainty in an already fragile marketplace, particularly among the banks and investors,” said Stuart Ford, head of Los Angeles-based film and TV company AGC Studios.

Just what Hollywood needs — more uncertainty.

Read my colleagues Meg James and Samantha Masunaga for more on the tariff situation.

IFC’s new look at 25 years old

Indie movie stalwart IFC Films has seen dramatic changes in the specialty film market since it launched 25 years ago.

The challenges are real, as streaming changes moviegoer habits and the box office continues to creep back from the pandemic doldrums. Meanwhile, newer entrants — including A24, Neon and Angel Studios — have reshaped the business by establishing themselves as fresh brands that mean something to their target audiences.

The types of movies that draw independent film fans to theaters have also shifted radically, especially compared to the early 2000s when IFC released “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” by far its biggest hit. Even 2014, the year the company put out Richard Linklater’s best picture Oscar nominee “Boyhood,” seems a lifetime away.

The market now is younger and hungrier for horror movies, thrillers and edgy genre mashups. At the same time, the major Hollywood studios have, with few exceptions, turned their attention to broad-based tentpole movies, which gives companies like IFC an opportunity to make a bigger mark.

“The audience for what I would call specialty now is very different than it was a few years ago,” said IFC Entertainment Group head Scott Shooman. “It’s not just older-skewing dramas anymore.”

With all that in mind, New York-based IFC on Tuesday unveiled a brand refresh, changing its name to Independent Film Co. As part of the rebranding effort, the company unveiled a new logo and a “customized audio logo” created by Adam “Adrock” Horovitz of the Beastie Boys.

Independent Film Company’s new logo.

The change is part of a broader rejiggering of film assets within parent company AMC Networks. Independent Film Co. will exist under the newly named IFC Entertainment Group, an umbrella that also includes the IFC Center movie theater, fellow distribution arm RLJE and the horror streaming service Shudder, which turns a decade old this year.

“As the consumer becomes more familiar with brands and who’s purveying the movies, it becomes important for us to refresh the brand,” Shooman said. “It’s gonna take the movies to fill it out, but that’s something that we look forward to doing.”

As the independent space has evolved, so has IFC’s strategy.

The company is aiming to release fewer films while taking bigger swings with more commercial-leaning movies and heftier budgets. Currently, the group releases about 50 movies a year, which according to Shooman is getting closer to the ideal number. About 30 of those releases are through the Shudder arm, a handful of which also go into theaters.

For the rest, 12 are from Independent Film Co. and eight are under the RLJE banner, and all of those are released theatrically. As the company refines its strategy, it’s moving further away from the foreign films and documentaries that helped define the brand years ago, though it will still do one or two of those a year, Shooman said.

“We’re gonna be sniper oriented on those and really make sure that they are the needle-moving films in that space,” he said.

IFC is coming off a strong couple of years, fielding commercial successes including Colin and Cameron Cairnes’ “Late Night With the Devil” and Chris Nash’s “In a Violent Nature,” along with prestigious titles such as “The Taste of Things” and the Academy Award-nominated stop-motion animated feature “Memoir of a Snail.”

Upcoming releases include Eli Craig’s “Clown in a Cornfield”; Sean Byrne’s thriller “Dangerous Animals,” which debuts at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight; and Jay Duplass’ “The Baltimorons.”

Essential to the larger IFC strategy is Shudder, which over the last 10 years has established itself as a destination for horror fans with its mix of new titles and handpicked library selections.

Shudder was, for example, the home of Coralie Fargeat’s first feature, “Revenge,” before she went on to make “The Substance.” It was also behind the 2022 experimental and divisive microbudget film “Skinamarink” from Kyle Edward Ball. Last year, it released “Oddity,” its second time working with Irish director Damian McCarthy.

“As we’re able to grow as a company, we’ve become synonymous with taste, with quality and with author-driven impactful horror,” said Emily Gotto, Shudder’s head of acquisitions and production.

Shudder prides itself on the way it curates its platform with a human touch, not by algorithm.

Some of Shudder’s best gets have been older, little-seen titles with which the company can make a splash. The best example perhaps was when the company secured the rights to the 1981 body horror classic “Possession,” which hadn’t been widely available through streaming or video on-demand.

That coup was a prime example of how the company can make “subscriber events” out of releasing older titles, said Shudder’s programming and acquisitions head Sam Zimmerman, who is in charge of curating the streamer’s offering.

Zimmerman said the company succeeds when “we follow our taste and our passion and release and make movies that take someone a foot further than they thought they were going to go that day.”

“Having that instinct confirmed is both surprising but exciting to me,” he said, “because I think that’s what people want out of horror.”

Finally …

Listen: The blues great Buddy Guy is in the news because of “Sinners,” so why not?

Hollywood executives scrambled Monday to interpret President Trump’s call for stiff tariffs on movies produced outside the U.S. — a bombshell proposal that would upend how movies have been made for years.

Trump on Sunday night announced that he was authorizing a 100% tariff on movies “coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.” The proposal, like many other Trump-imposed tariffs, is aimed at bringing a key industry back home.

Studios shoot many of their feature films in Canada, Britain, Bulgaria, New Zealand and Australia. Such countries offer incentives to attract high-paying jobs and get their landmarks featured on the big screen.

“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated.”

Studio executives were caught off guard.

Many filmmakers would like to work in the U.S. but would rather see the government institute its own national tax credit. Tariffs, many argue, would hasten the film industry’s demise rather than preventing it, because they would increase costs. Plus, it’s unclear how a tariff on movies would actually work.

“Nobody knows, and I don’t suspect we will for awhile,” said one high-level film industry executive who was not authorized to comment. “Is it on domestically funded foreign productions? Is it on foreign funded ones? Is the tariff on film revenues or film costs on those projects, or both?”

Foreign production incentives have hobbled Los Angeles’ production economy, which has been ailing after COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns, labor strikes and a retrenchment by traditional entertainment companies after losing billions of dollars on streaming services to compete with Netflix. The January wildfires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena dealt another setback.

Production of TV shows, feature films and commercials fell 22% during the first three months of the year, compared with the first quarter of 2024, according to the nonprofit organization FilmLA.

Major entertainment companies declined to comment. The president’s announcement sparked a frenzy of questions, including whether U.S.-based companies, such as Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros. Discovery, Amazon and Netflix, would be subject to the tariffs simply for shooting a movie outside the U.S.

According to data from the Motion Picture Assn., the U.S. runs a $15.3-billion trade surplus with its exports of entertainment.

“This creates an incredible uncertainty in the industry,” said Nick Vyas, founding executive director of the Randall R. Kendrick Global Supply Chain Institute at USC. “This is the one industry where we have created a huge advantage.”

Key details must be worked out, the White House cautioned Monday. White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement that “no final decisions on foreign film tariffs have been made.”

Some crew leaders applauded Trump’s instinct to protect American jobs.

“Studios chase cheap production costs overseas while gutting the American workforce that built the film and TV industry,“ said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien and Motion Picture Division Director Lindsay Dougherty in a statement.

But a movie tariff would be complicated in practice.

Similar to Detroit’s auto industry, different phases of production often occur outside the U.S., such as adding special effects.

Tariffs are typically imposed when a product arrives at a port of entry, at which time the importer of record must pay the tax before the item is released. That wouldn’t be feasible for films, which are distributed digitally.

Digital products are also not part of the normal tariff regime, which would make it difficult to determine its valuation, said Tony Gulotta, principal and national tax practice leader at Ryan, a global business tax-focused firm.

Adding to the obstacles, the World Trade Organization also has a moratorium on taxation of digital trade that runs through March 2026, he said.

Administration officials are expected to meet with studio executives and the MPA to seek clarity about whether tariffs will be based on a film’s budget, its revenue, theater ticket prices or streaming service subscriber fees.

Another question: Would television shows, many of which are filmed in Canada and the U.K., be included?

“This is no small thing,” Frank Albarella, a media and telecommunications executive at consulting firm KPMG. “It could be really disruptive to the industry.”

The call to enhance U.S. production comes after Trump tapped a trio of actors — Jon Voight, Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson — to be his “special ambassadors” to Hollywood.

Voight and his manager, Steven Paul, traveled to Florida to present a plan to Trump during an in-person meeting this past weekend at Mar-a-Lago.

The plan was developed after meeting with Hollywood unions, studios and streamers, and addressed multiple potential ways to help the U.S. film business. Those included federal tax incentives, co-production treaties with other countries, infrastructure subsidies, job training and “tariffs in certain limited circumstances,” according to a statement from Paul’s production company.

“The American film industry, and Hollywood, is a beacon for teaching the American Dream to the world and is an engine for job growth and career opportunity,” Paul said in the statement.

But it was Trump himself who came up with the tariff plan, a White House official said.

Congressional leaders warned that tariffs were not the best way to boost the American film industry.

“If President Trump is serious about maintaining a dominant U.S. film industry and keeping production jobs in the United States,” said Rep. Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), a former film producer, “I invite him to join me in fighting for a national film tax credit that levels the playing field with overseas incentives.”

Runaway production is a decades-old trend, but leaders say its impact on California has reached a crisis point.

Such programs as Netflix’s “Bridgerton,” and movies including Universal’s “Wicked” and “How to Train Your Dragon,” Warner Bros. “The Conjuring: Last Rites” and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” from Disney’s Marvel were shot in the U.K.

In addition to lower labor costs, studios have moved overseas to give productions local flavor for audiences in those continents. Films often collect as much as 60% of their revenue from international audiences.

Some experts warned that imposing stiff tariffs could invite reciprocal levies from other territories.

The news could also dampen dealmaking at the Cannes Film Festival in France next week due to the uncertainty of the proposed policy.

Senior debt lenders have expressed concern about how this will affect distribution, said Peter Marshall, managing principal of media insurance services at Epic Insurance Brokers & Consultants.

“If you wanted to time a bombshell statement to frustrate the independent film sector, you would say it now, right before the largest market in the world,” Marshall said. “This will, I think, almost certainly cast a huge pall over that.”

Times staff writers Michael Wilner, Stacy Perman and Wendy Lee contributed to this report.

HOLLYWOOD is coming to Somerset . . . at least if organisers get their way.

I can reveal that Oscar-nominee Timothee Chalamet is being lined up to make a surprise appearance at next month’s Glastonbury Festival.

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But rather than take to the Pyramid Stage before 200,000 fans, Timothée is likely to opt for the more humble Acoustic Stage.

In stark comparison to the main stage, the tent only has space for a few thousand people.

I’m told Timothée, will perform with Bob Dylan tribute band Not Completely Unknown.

The group are billed to appear on Saturday.

Timothée has received critical acclaim for his portrayal of the music legend in Bafta-nominated 2024 film A Complete Unknown.

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During the biopic Timothée is seen singing and performing some of Bob’s biggest hits himself, rather than simply miming to them. The actor had originally pre-recorded the vocals, but bosses ditched them in favour of live vocals during each take after hearing him sing on set.

Timothée said: “It was important for me to sing and play live.

“Because if I can actually do it, why should there be an element of artifice here?

“And I’m proud that we took that leap.”

He added: “To watch actors do karaoke really isn’t that interesting.”

He plays both the piano and the guitar in the hit movie, which was nominated for eight Oscars.

Earlier this year Timothée performed several Dylan songs on the popular American TV show Saturday Night Live.

As well as Dylan’s 1965 track Outlaw Blues, the actor also performed Three Angels and Tomorrow Is a Long Time.

This year’s Glastonbury festival looks set to be another vintage year with Olivia Rodrigo, The 1975 and Neil Young all set to perform headline sets.

Sir Rod Stewart will follow in the footsteps of Shania Twain, Kylie Minogue and Dolly Parton and take on the famous Legend slot on Sunday afternoon.

Seeing Timothée in action down at Worthy Farm would be epic, and if his girlfriend Kylie Jenner also makes it over to Somerset to watch him perform then we could well be looking at Glastonbury history.

MAD FOR HER TOYBOY

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THINGS are getting serious with Madonna and her toyboy partner Akeem Morris, as she threw him a lavish 29th birthday party at the weekend.

They looked loved-up in snaps shared on Instagram and he made his feelings towards the Queen of Pop clear by referring to her as “wifey.”

He wrote: “All I can say is thank you. Thank you wifey.

“It meant so much to have the people I love and respect all in one room. It was a special night, and the energy in the room was nothing but love.”

She laid on a bash in a private bar in New York, which was attended by four of her six children – David, Mercy, and twins Estere and Stella – and got YG Marley to perform a special set.

The singer, whose track Praise Jah In The Moonlight was a hit last year, is the son of The Fugees’ Lauryn Hill and Rohan Marley, the son of reggae icon Bob.

Madonna wrote on Instagram: “Happy Birthday to my favorite Taurus,” to which Akeem replied: “I LOVE YOU.”

TYLA STRIPES IT UP

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THE Met Gala was held in the early hours of this morning, giving celebrities the chance to wear their wackiest outfits and pass them off as high fashion.

But South African singer Tyla got in on the act early when she wore this glaring orange and black dress with a gigantic matching hat, which I’m surprised even fit inside the car she had just hopped out of.

The Water singer used the streets as her catwalk while out in New York, and she had good reason, as she has just announced that her new single, Bliss, will be out on Friday.

Tyla will be over here in August when she performs at the All Points East Festival in London in a line-up featuring Raye, Jade and Doechii.

Here’s hoping that she’s in something a bit less constricting when she takes to the stage.

ALL TOOTH MUCH FOR KYLE

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EUROVISION might be as fun as pulling teeth for some people and for Norway’s act Kyle Alessandro, it really is.

Moments after completing his first rehearsal on stage in Basel on Sunday, Kyle was rushed to hospital to have one of his wisdom teeth taken out.

Referencing his song Lighter, which he will perform at next Tuesday’s first semi-final, he wrote on Instagram: “One tooth lighter.”

His team said he could barely open his mouth because he was in so much pain before the operation.

UK act Remember Monday have their first rehearsal this Thursday, but are now 14th favourites with their song What The Hell Just Happened? and given there’s 37 acts, that’s not half bad.

BEY’S JUST A GAG COPA-CAT

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LADY GAGA played the most-attended gig ever by a female artist when she headlined Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach on Saturday, but that record could soon be broken.

It’s claimed Beyonce is already in talks to follow suit and play a mega show there next year.

Gaga’s concert was put on for free by the city in a bid to boost the economy, with it believed to have brought £75million to the area.

Now locals will be hoping Bey signs on the dotted line and they can see her for free too – even if it is from miles away.

I was impressed by the sheer number of people who came to Gaga’s show, but I for one know I’d have hated to have been at the back of that crowd.

MAROON TURNS TO PINK

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MAROON 5’s Adam Levine was one lucky man, getting to work – and pose – with Blackpink‘s Lisa.

She looked amazing in a snakeskin dress in the artwork for their new collaboration Priceless, which came out on Friday and earned the band their biggest first day ever on the Spotify chart when it was streamed 2.48million times in 24 hours.

Lisa insisted a new Blackpink record is “coming soon” – their first since 2022’s Born Pink – ahead of a summer tour including two nights at Wembley Stadium.

She added: “We were in the studio a few days ago.”

DUA HAS RADICAL FEELING

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DUA LIPA’s Radical Optimism world tour is yet to hit the UK, but the star is already working on her follow-up record.

The Training Season singer has spent the last few days in the studio in New York and shared snaps of her time there on Instagram.

During her time in the Big Apple, she also attended an intimate gig by Miley Cyrus, who she previously worked with on the track Prisoner – although I’m not expecting another collaboration.

Dua kicks off her tour again on Sunday in Madrid before reaching London, Liverpool and Dublin next month.

I doubt we will have any new tunes by then, but it gives me hope that there might be something to hear next year, once her global jaunt finally ends in December.

FLORENCE PUGH has a box-office hit on her hands.

New movie Thunderbolts* took £122m globally in its first three days.

The Marvel superhero film, which also stars Sebastian Stan and David Harbour, has been a hit with fans, despite mixed reviews from critics.

WIN GIG TICKETS

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TO celebrate the return of Concert Week, where music fans can get specially priced tickets to some of this year’s hottest gigs, Live Nation have given Bizarre a bunch to give away for FREE.

As well as a pair of tickets for Robbie Williams’ gig at the Emirates on June 7, we’ve got two for Nelly and Eve’s show at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena on June 4.

Also up for grabs is a pair of tickets to see rockers Guns N’ Roses at Wembley Stadium on June 26, along with two tickets for Iggy Pop at Alexandra Palace on May 28.

Plus a pair of tickets to see John Legend at London’s O2 Arena on June 1.

For a chance to win, visit thesun.co.uk/concertweek and click which act you’d like to see. The competition runs every day this week and the winners will be selected at random.

If you aren’t one of our lucky winners, Live Nation’s Concert Week is offering 80,000 tickets from £25, so keep an eye out for promotions.

Go to thesun.co.uk/concertweek

Since the start of the year, Brandy Hernandez has applied to nearly 200 entertainment jobs.

The 22-year-old film school graduate, who works as a receptionist at the Ross Stores buying office in downtown Los Angeles, said that for most of those applications, she never heard back — not even a rejection. When she did land follow-up interviews, she was almost always ghosted afterward.

“I knew that I wouldn’t be a famous screenwriter or anything straight out of college,” said Hernandez, who graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2024. But she thought she’d at least be qualified for an entry-level film industry job.

“It shouldn’t be this hard,” she kept thinking.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a widespread production slowdown, the entertainment industry’s recovery has been delayed by the dual Hollywood strikes, some of the costliest wildfires in California’s history and an industry-wide contraction.

Studios scrambling to cut costs amid the turbulence were quick to slash low-level positions that historically got rookies in the door.

“You almost feel cursed,” said Ryan Gimeson, who graduated from Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts in 2023, in the early days of the writers’ strike.

And while screenwriting has always been a competitive field, industry veterans attested that the conditions have rarely ever been harsher for young writers.

“In the past 40 years of doing this, this is the most disruptive I’ve ever seen it,” said Tom Nunan, founder of Bull’s Eye Entertainment and a lecturer in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

The landscape is especially dry in television writing, according to a jobs report released last month by the Writers Guild of America.

TV writing roles dropped 42% in the 2023-2024 season that coincided with the strikes, the report said. About a third of those cuts were to lower-level appointments.

It’s a far cry from the TV business Liz Alper broke into 15 years ago.

Alper, an L.A.-based writer-producer and co-founder of the fair worker treatment movement #PayUpHollywood, came up in the early 2010s, when opportunities in scripted television were still plentiful.

The CW, for instance, was putting out three original one-hour shows a night, or about 18 to 21 original pieces of programming a week, Alper said. That translated to anywhere between 100 and 200 staff writer slots.

But in the last five years or so, the rise of streaming has essentially done the opposite — poaching cable subscribers, edging out episodic programming with bingeable on-demand series and cutting writing jobs in the process.

The job scarcity has driven those in entry-level positions to stay there longer than they used to. A 2021 #PayUpHollywood survey found that most support staffers were in their late twenties, several years older than they were on average a decade ago.

Without those employees moving up and creating vacancies, recent graduates have nowhere to come in.

“I think if you have a job, it feels like you’ve got one of the lifeboats on the Titanic, and you’re not willing to give up the seat,” Alper said.

The entertainment job market has also suffered from the ongoing exodus of productions from California, where costs are high and tax incentives are low.

Legislation that would raise the state’s film tax credit to 35% of qualified spending — up from its current 20–25% rates — is pending after winning unanimous votes out of the Senate revenue and taxation committee and the Assembly arts and entertainment committee. Supporters say the move is critical for California to remain competitive with other states and countries, state legislators have argued.

Meanwhile, young creatives are questioning whether L.A. is the place to launch their careers.

Peter Gerard.

(Robert Hanashiro / For The Times)

Peter Gerard, 24, moved to L.A. from Maryland two years ago to pursue TV writing. After graduating with a data science degree from the University of Maryland, he sensed it was his last chance to chase his dream.

Within weeks of arriving in L.A. in April 2023, he landed a handful of job interviews and even felt hopeful about a few.

Then the writers guild went on strike.

“I came moments before disaster, and I had no idea,” he said.

During the slowdown, Gerard filled his time by working on independent films, attending writing classes and building his portfolio. He was fine without a full-time gig, he said, figuring L.A. would work its magic on him eventually.

Such “cosmic choreography” touched writer-producer Jill Goldsmith nearly 30 years ago, she said, when she left her job as a public defender in Chicago to pursue TV writing. After seven trying months in L.A., her luck turned when she met “NYPD Blue” co-creator David Milch in line at a Santa Monica chocolate shop. Goldsmith sent him a script, the show bought it and she got her first credit in 1998.

Goldsmith, a lecturer in the UCLA MFA program in the School of Theater, Film and Television, said she tells her students such opportunities only come when they meet fate halfway.

But hearing veteran writers mourn their lost jobs and L.A.’s bygone glory led Gerard to question his own bid for success.

“I felt sorry for them, but it also made me realize, like, ‘Wow, there’s a lot of people who want to do this, and a lot of them are much further along than me, with nothing to show for it,’” he said.

Lore Olivera.

(Robert Hanashiro / For The Times)

As the youngest staff writer in her current writers’ room, Lore V. Olivera, 26, has gotten used to her senior counterparts waxing nostalgic about the “good old times.”

“I think they’re definitely romanticizing a bit,” she said, “but there is some truth in there.”

Olivera landed her first staff writer job in 2023, a year after graduating from Stanford University. The process was straightforward: her reps cold-emailed her samples to a showrunner, he liked them, she interviewed and got the job. But Olivera said such success stories are rare.

“I was ridiculously lucky,” she said. Still, getting staffed is no finish line, she added, just a 20-week pause on the panic of finding the next gig.

Olivera is also the only staff writer in her current room, with all her colleagues holding higher titles like editor or producer. It’s a natural consequence, she said, of showrunners facing pressure to fill limited positions with heavy-hitters already proven capable of creating hits.

Olivera said she knows not every 26-year-old was getting hired a few decades ago, but even her elder peers agreed the industry has lost a former air of possibility.

“It’s definitely a slap in the face when you get here and you’re like, ‘Yeah, it’s going to be a few miserable years, and then I might not even make it,’” Olivera said. “Not even because I’m good or bad… but just because the industry is so dead and so afraid of taking chances.’”

Jolaya Gillams, who graduated from Chapman’s Dodge college in 2023, said that her class had talent in spades. But the industry hasn’t given them anywhere to put it.

Instead, studios are pouring money into remakes, the 24-year old said, even as consumers have displayed their appetite for original material.

“I hope that we move into an era of film where it’s new, fresh ideas and new perspectives and having an open mind to the voice of our generation,” Gillams said.

Until then, the filmmaker said she’ll continue to create work for herself.

During the strikes, Gillams and a production team with no budget made the short film “Sincero,” which won the audience award for short documentary at the 2023 Newport Beach Film Festival. As she continues the search for a distributor for the doc, she already has another project in the works.

Weary from the “black hole” of job applications, Hernandez said she, too, is focused on bringing her own work to life. In an ideal world, that leads to a film festival or two, maybe even agency representation. But mostly, what drives her is pride in the work itself.

“If I’m successful in my mind,” said Hernandez, “I’m content with that.”

In the first episode of the Apple TV+ show “The Studio,” Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese sells his script to the fictional Continental Studios, only to be told later by a studio chief played by Seth Rogen that the project, about Jonestown, has been killed.

Instead, the company is fast-tracking a soulless brand-based cash grab: a Kool-Aid movie.

“Just give me back my movie and let me go sell it to f— Apple, the way I should have done it in the first place,” a despairing Scorsese says.

The line could practically be an ad for how Apple TV+, the Cupertino tech giant’s streaming service, has positioned itself as a creative haven for filmmakers trying to sell bold, original ideas.

The service, which was introduced in 2019 with a splashy event featuring Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg, found success with comedy shows like “Ted Lasso” and 2022 best picture Academy Award winner “CODA.”

But the question hanging over the company was, just how serious was it about its Hollywood ambitions? Would it be the next big power player? Or would it become just another deep-pocketed short-timer? For years after they joined the company, Apple TV+ leaders Jamie Erlicht and Zack Van Amburg were dogged by rumors that their jobs were in jeopardy.

Lately though, its efforts have come more into focus. It’s been on a run of critical success with shows such as “Severance,” “The Studio” and “Your Friends & Neighbors.” Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook said in a call with investors on Thursday that Apple TV+ “has become a must-see destination” and posted record viewership in the quarter.

Some have compared it to HBO — before Warner Bros. Discovery began making cuts — developing a reputation for being willing to pay big for A-list stars and creatives.

“It’s been brilliant at defining its niche … and the quality of what it does is simply superb,” said Stephen Galloway, dean of Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. “The question is, is the niche big enough to justify the expense?”

Apple TV+’s subscriber base remains small compared to competitors, including Netflix. It lacks the deep, established libraries of Walt Disney Co. or Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max, which helps keep customers paying every month and not switching to another service. While it has good shows and movies, critics say, it lacks the volume and breadth of its competitors.

And the quality over quantity approach has its doubters. Wedbush Securities managing director Daniel Ives estimates Apple TV+ has 57 million subscribers, which he called “disappointing.” Wall Street had hoped to see 100 million or more subscribers by now, he said.

Apple has “built a mansion [and] they don’t have enough furniture, and that’s a problem from a content perspective with Apple TV+,” Ives said.

Further, tech and business news site the Information reported that Apple TV+ is losing $1 billion a year. The company’s strategy has left some rivals scratching their heads.

“I don’t understand it beyond a marketing play, but they’re really smart people,” said Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos in a March interview with Variety. “Maybe they see something we don’t.”

Apple declined to comment.

Observers noted that it can take a long time for streaming services to become profitable. NBCUniversal’s Peacock is still losing money, for example.

In recent years, subscription streaming services have been under pressure by investors to produce more profit. In an industry where there’s a lot of competition and Netflix has been declared the winner, there’s anxiety about how many platforms can survive on their own.

But Apple thinks differently about entertainment compared to its more traditional studio rivals, people familiar with the company say.

Apple TV+ is just one part of the company’s larger strategy to grow its subscription services business under Eddy Cue, which includes Apple Music, iCloud storage and Apple News, among other options.

The services category represented 25% of Apple’s overall sales of $391 billion in its last fiscal year. The company’s largest money maker remains the iPhone, which represented 51% of Apple’s total revenues in its last fiscal year.

In its most recent quarter, services reached a revenue record of $26.6 billion, up 12% from a year ago, the company said.

Apple TV+ is “a small piece of all the services that you provide,” said Alejandro Rojas, vice president of applied analytics with Parrot Analytics. “You want this to add to the overall brand experience, but without also crossing a massive gap in resources and investments.”

Apple TV+’s programming strategy has taken a talent-friendly approach, tending to favor projects with big-name stars.

One of its early major bets was “The Morning Show” with Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell. Drama “Your Friends & Neighbors” stars Jon Hamm from “Mad Men.” Its February survival drama film “The Gorge” stars Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy.

One of Apple’s biggest movie releases will happen this summer with Formula 1 film “F1” (featuring Brad Pitt), which hits theaters in June, including on Imax screens. Warner Bros. is handling the theatrical release for the big-budget movie, directed by Joseph Kosinski (“Top Gun: Maverick”).

Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, hopes “F1” will play like “Top Gun: Maverick” on a racetrack. Some of Apple’s previous filmmaker-driven, star-studded movies struggled at theaters, including “Fly Me to the Moon” and “Argylle.”

“This is a huge movie for Apple,” Dergarabedian said. “I think they picked a perfect project to really amplify their filmmaking acumen and their filmmaker relationships.”

The way Apple treats talent has a personalized touch, said creatives who have worked with the company.

Tomorrow Studios president Becky Clements said she was “forever grateful” that Apple took a shot on “Physical,” an original series starring Rose Byrne about a 1980s housewife who struggles with an eating disorder and finds strength through aerobics.

“It’s an original piece, which is often a difficult thing to pull off in the marketplace,” Clements said.

Clements credited Apple with supporting the filmmakers and not micromanaging the show, which delved into difficult material.

Ben Silverman, an executive producer on upcoming Apple TV+ series “Stick” (starring Owen Wilson), said the show’s budget allowed for traveling to North Carolina for filming, where prominent golf commentators Trevor Immelman and Jim Nantz were located during the PGA Tour.

“I think a lot of platforms are supportive of their creators right now, but they may not have the bandwidth to go as deep as Apple can on individual projects because they’re just not doing as many,” said Silverman, chairman and co-CEO of L.A.-based Propagate Content.

Not all creatives have been happy with Apple.

It threw observers for a loop when it did a short and limited theatrical release for last year’s Brad Pitt and George Clooney action-comedy movie “Wolfs,” instead of a more traditional wide release.

Director Jon Watts told Deadline he backed out of a sequel because he was surprised by Apple’s “last minute” shift and that Apple ignored his request to not reveal that he was working on a follow-up. Apple has not addressed the controversy publicly.

Like other streamers, over time, Apple TV+ has made changes to help generate more revenue, cut costs and increase customers. Last month, Apple cut the price of its streaming service temporarily to $2.99 a month. Its base monthly fee is $9.99. Last year, Apple TV+ reached a deal to sell subscriptions through Amazon.

In February, Apple TV+ captured 30% of its sign-ups via Amazon Channels, said Brendan Brady, director of strategy at research firm Antenna. High-profile releases including the new “Severance” season and “The Gorge” drove sign-ups, he added.

“It’s a combination of content driving their acquisition, and also that opening up of their distribution attracting a new audience,” Brady said.

Apple’s overall business faces macroeconomic challenges, such as the Trump administration’s trade war with China.

Government officials have warned that tariffs on smartphones made in China are coming — which would harm Apple’s iPhone because many are made in the country. Increased costs to Apple’s overall business could eventually squeeze other areas of the company including Apple TV+, analysts said.

Some people who work with Apple said it’s too early to judge Apple’s success based on its estimated subscriber counts so far, and they’re placing chips on the venture succeeding in the long run.

“It’s about investing early and long-term,” Silverman said. “I’m always an entrepreneurial spirit who wants to lean in early to these platforms and partnerships, hoping that I can build a beachfront relationship.”

ELIZABETH Hurley glowed in a series of photos from her recent trips to the Maldives.

The actress, 59, posted her holiday photo dump to Instagram where she looked stunning in a barely-there red bikini just weeks after revealing her new love.

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Liz posed beachside in the sexy swimsuit and smiled happily as she raised her hands up in the air.

Another photo showed her walking away from the camera, with her unbelievable figure on full display.

The series of pics included Liz looking over her shoulder in a backless, floral maxi dress, a sashimi dinner, an opulent bath, and a shot of her luxury, beachfront accommodation.

“Well…it’s been a helluva few weeks since my glorious sojourn in the Maldives, but here are some of my happy memories,” she captioned the pics.

The holiday snaps come just a couple of weeks after Liz revealed her romance with country music singer, Billy Ray Cyrus, 63.

They went public with their relationship on Easter Sunday, with fans going into meltdown.

It came after Liz shared a photo on Instagram of Billy kissing her.

Alongside the picture, she simply wrote, “Happy Easter”, followed by a heart emoji.

Showing his support for the romance, her son Damian commented with party and heart emojis.

The new couple first met in 2022 playing the romantic leads in the holiday movie, Christmas In Paradise.

However, Billy revealed they didn’t reconnect until his marriage to third wife Firerose came to an end, and Liz reached out to see if he was ok, marking the first move in the romance.

Speaking on Apple Music Country’s The Ty Bentli Show, he revealed how they chatted and had “instant chemistry”.

“She’s so impressively brilliant,” the smitten singer said.

“If you can laugh together, you can make it through everything.”

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