The Hollywood Reporter: One Year After L.A.'s Fires, a Grassroots Effort Mobilizes to Keep Film and TV Projects In the City

For years the challenges kept coming for Hollywood’s rank and file. First there was the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which interrupted production. Then the historic double strikes in 2023, which did the same. Not to mention an overall contraction in the entertainment business and, to cap it off, fires ripping across swaths of Los Angeles in 2025, destroying the homes of some in the business who were already facing a crushing downturn in work.

But ever since the blazes, local production advocates have been fighting back. “The fires, I feel like, galvanized people,” said Only Murders in the Building co-executive producer Kristin Newman at a panel discussion on Wednesday. “Being kicked so many times was what made everyone feel like we finally needed a little help.”

On the anniversary of the start of the Eaton and Palisades Fires, Newman and other L.A. production advocates gathered in West Hollywood to take stock of their progress on getting that help. In the wake of the disaster, a grassroots push to restore film and television production volume to the L.A. area has resulted in some tangible achievements. Chief among them is the $420 million augmentation of the California film and television tax credit program that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in 2025 after heavy industry lobbying.

That’s not to mention attempts to reform the local permitting process and cut production costs, like motions L.A. City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian introduced in December and a “film industry support package” that the Culver City City Council approved a month earlier.

Still, as of 2026, many L.A.-based industry workers remain under-employed, if they have any work at all. Recent production data remains depressing: On-location shoot days in the greater L.A. area decreased 13.2 percent in the third quarter of 2025 (an all-time low) compared to the prior year, according to the local film office.

It’s a struggle that Culver City councilmember Dan O’Brien knows intimately. The councilmember has worked as an editor in the industry for nearly three decades, including during his tenure in public office (which in Culver City is a volunteer position). Fighting back tears, he told the audience on Wednesday that he recently sold his home “and it is directly related to my lack of income” as an industry worker. He added, “I know that this is a really difficult time for all of us.”

That’s not to say this situation is permanent. Some panelists struck an optimistic tone about recent policy developments and what they meant for the year ahead in Hollywood. In a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, California Film Commission executive director Colleen Bell stated that in the last six months, the augmented tax credit program has taken in 119 projects, which she says are predicted to generate $4.2 billion in local economic activity, 25,000 jobs and 4,000 shoot days. “We have an incredible amount of momentum taking place right now,” she said.

SAG-AFTRA national board member Jason George called himself “enthusiastically, cautiously optimistic” about the future, arguing that L.A. is in some ways reinventing the way it handles one of the iconic features of its landscape — film shoots. “We’re rethinking the wheel of entertainment here in Los Angeles,” he said.

Still, with other states and countries increasingly luring productions with ever-more-tantalizing tax perks, more may need to be done to bring production back. During his panel appearance, George said a potential federal tax incentive — which Sen. Adam Schiff and U.S. Rep. Laura Friedman have committed to introducing — would help.

Panelists also urged industry members to keep the pressure on their elected officials. Veteran crewmember Cale Thomas exhorted attendees to call City Hall in support of Nazarian’s motions, which will soon be presented at committee hearings. Nazarian himself urged industry members to make appointments with their city councilmembers and share personal stories of the production downturn. “That form of advocacy is the most powerful,” he said.

The event was hosted by the grassroots groups Ashes to Films and Stay in L.A. Born out of the L.A. fires, Ashes to Filmsoffers grants and training to filmmakers impacted by the disaster and Stay in L.A. advocates for policies that will boost production in the region.

Ashes to Films’ founder and CEO, Shiloh Strong, previously experienced the devastation of a fire when the Jesusita Fire burned down his home in Santa Barbara in 2009.

 “When these [recent] fires happened, I was looking back and remembering what it was like months later. And that’s when it got really difficult, because the rest of the world moves on,” he said. He formed the nonprofit to provide some support to those affected.

With Wednesday’s event, Ashes to Films executive director Alyssa Dudek said she wanted Hollywood workers to envision a brighter future. “We’re hoping this gives people a moment to explore calls to action, to explore how to look at the future,” said.

She added that she hoped the event’s attendees would “be thinking about ways to support a community that desperately needs it and that desperately wants to keep doing what they’re doing.”