How Hollywood stopped making movies in Hollywood • Hacker News Board

Re: How Hollywood stopped making movies in Hollywood

#101

Post by frollogaston » Mon, Aug 03, 2026, 6:29 PM UTC

YesBox wrote: post #73

YesBox wrote: post #72

Video game industry analysts are predicting the same is going to happen to their (my) industry. Contract out more and more work to SEA/China/Poland et.al. It's extra painful because games are relatively cheap to localize (fantasy is universal, it's just translating text and words), so studios based in cheaper parts of the world already have an advantage and they have access to the west markets. Global competition can…

As an aside, there are large portions of the US where coastal folks dont want to live. These places are 2-4x cheaper (compared to costal game industry hubs) and could be cost competitive.. but it's probably not going to happen.

Probably still more expensive and with less concentrated talent than the other places outside the US.

Re: How Hollywood stopped making movies in Hollywood

#102

Post by andyfilms1 » Mon, Aug 03, 2026, 6:39 PM UTC

montagg wrote: post #86

andyfilms1 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, this is so misguided.... 1. Stagecraft/virtual production is a thing, yes, but the backgrounds are not "AI rendered," they're 3D scenes built in Unreal. They have to be, because they need to dynamically react to the camera moving to create parallax. 2. Yes, some people are using AI to plan scenes. With respect to your relative, those people are not the ones getting hired on large projects. When someone is hired…

The future is probably not 100% generated, but probably a mix of generation + animation + motion capture. AI is not going to be able to replicate the deep and affecting performances you get from humans—I fully believe it can recreate some aspects of the visual arts, but no way is it going to get to the point where it will be the best of the best. It may become good enough, which is a thing and will make an impact, bu…

With a few notable exceptions (James Cameron) the film industry is largely unconcerned with "possibility." I think this is often why there is such a big misunderstanding from tech folks about how movies are made, since tech is very feature and tool driven whereas filmmaking is very much process-driven.

The Odyssey was shot on IMAX cameras half the size of a car that weighed 400lbs. It's easy to call that out as being ridiculous, surely a much smaller camera system could have achieved 99% the same results, etc. but that totally misses the point. Nolan could have shot it on anything he wanted, and he chose the less convenient way, because that is his process. If he was forced to use a more reasonable camera, it would not have been a Christopher Nolan film.

Sure, I'm down with that mix of generation + animation + mocap workflow. But at some point, people will going to look around at all the equipment, the people in mocap suits, the thousands of hours of generation and the millions of dollars of compute, and just wonder...wouldn't it be easier to just film someone with a real camera?

Re: How Hollywood stopped making movies in Hollywood

#103

Post by sparrc » Mon, Aug 03, 2026, 6:41 PM UTC

harrall wrote: post #23

The cost of housing is probably the #1 reason and, in my opinion, California’s biggest problem. California as a whole is still doing pretty well but high housing cost is slowly pulling out the rug from under the state. But the California legislature does know that and has forced many cities to start building housing but there is still a lot work still in flight.

I don't think you can argue that California is significantly worse off in terms of housing than London, which is where a large number of productions go due to tax incentives.

Re: How Hollywood stopped making movies in Hollywood

#104

Post by Animats » Mon, Aug 03, 2026, 6:46 PM UTC

dotBen wrote: post #27

An interesting read but also feels like the rearranging of the deckchairs on the Titanic given the forthcoming disruption from generative AI in this industry. I spent some time last month with a relative in the industry (camera operator and producer) and he already uses some very sophisticated AI to map out scenes and shots in gen ai full video before they shoot IRL. It's mostly a cost saving exercise as well as occa…

> He is totally expecting that the next shift will be that gen ai video will become good enough to be considered the master (ie no need to film) and he is already transferring his skills as a camera operator into prompting and AI assisted scene design.

Yes. Asian drama is already there.[1] The first AI-generated Asian vertical-format drama was released in November 2025. Now, about 400 new ones are released each day. The tools are online, and you can sign up for a few dollars a month.

Quality varies widely. The visuals are now quite good, but chatbots used to generate screenplays still have trouble holding the plot together. Much of this stuff looks like fan fiction authors are at the controls. When someone competent is driving, the results are quite good. Cost is about 10% of live action.

Hollywood probably has less than three years to live.

[1] https://pinedrama.com/blog/paradigm-shift-ai-short-drama-rev...

Re: How Hollywood stopped making movies in Hollywood

#105

Post by Animats » Mon, Aug 03, 2026, 6:50 PM UTC

moate wrote: post #95

anamax wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I don't see a fundamental reason why AI actors couldn't build the same kind of notoriety and following. Can AI's trash a room at Hotel Marmont? Dump their girlfriends when said girlfriends turn 25? Become Scientologists?

As someone who originally comes from a field that cannot be consumed by AI anytime soon (food service. AI can't actually be eaten) it's insane watching tech-dorks think "nobody actually cares about what they buy, which is why they will suck down all this slop because ultimately they just want output". Some of us remember the story of the Luddites and hope that this time might be different with 200 years of social pro…

> As someone who originally comes from a field that cannot be consumed by AI anytime soon (food service)...

That's a cost problem, not a technology problem.[1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Xop9py8zBY

Re: How Hollywood stopped making movies in Hollywood

#106

Post by lenerdenator » Mon, Aug 03, 2026, 6:51 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #75

lenerdenator wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep. See the Kansas City Chiefs. Clark Hunt is the largest recipient of welfare in the entire region.

Sports teams are an interesting one because often times these things go on the ballot and people vote for that. So it looks like people and municipalities have varying reasons for keeping a team. That said sometimes it just doesn’t make business sense for a team to stay and other times a municipality decides it’s not worth the cost to keep a pro team.

In the case of the Chiefs, Jackson Co., MO voters voted not to fund a new stadium.

The reasoning was pretty simple: the Hunt family is worth $25 billion [0]. They could likely pay for any sort of improvements to Arrowhead, or to replace it altogether, without taxpayer funds, which comes from people in a metro area where the average income is on the lower side of things in a time when costs for everything keep going up.

On the other side of the state line, Kansas lawmakers specifically targeted the goal of moving two professional sports teams to the state using public funds called STAR bonds.

The end result is that the Kansas City metropolitan area will be spending, in total, about $3-4 billion to give the Hunt family a new place for their sports team to play, likely far away from the city center, and that Arrowhead needs to be torn down, which will cost at least tens of millions of dollars, once again, at taxpayer expense.

$3 billion could probably build out a real public transit system for the KC metro.

[0] https://sports.yahoo.com/meet-25-billion-hunt-family-2024104...

Re: How Hollywood stopped making movies in Hollywood

#107

Post by toast0 » Mon, Aug 03, 2026, 6:53 PM UTC

> The quintessential example of this is Broadway, where the cost of living in New York City increases, leading wages to rise, but there remains a fixed set of theaters for Broadway shows to be staged, thereby limiting revenue growth. The end result is economic unsustainability, as these productions either curtail spending by employing fewer people or pass higher costs along to consumers through ticket pricing, often both.

Adding more Broadway (or off-Broadway) theaters to increase revenue wouldn't really address costs; the additional productions would presumably have similar staffing costs as the existing productions, so ticket prices would need to be similar in order to recoup the costs. [1] But viewers would have more options and be less likely to pay the top ticket prices.

[1] Unless you're certain that the show would fail...

Re: How Hollywood stopped making movies in Hollywood

#108

Post by twister2920 » Mon, Aug 03, 2026, 6:54 PM UTC

dotBen wrote: post #27

An interesting read but also feels like the rearranging of the deckchairs on the Titanic given the forthcoming disruption from generative AI in this industry. I spent some time last month with a relative in the industry (camera operator and producer) and he already uses some very sophisticated AI to map out scenes and shots in gen ai full video before they shoot IRL. It's mostly a cost saving exercise as well as occa…

[dead]

Re: How Hollywood stopped making movies in Hollywood

#109

Post by Ekaros » Mon, Aug 03, 2026, 6:59 PM UTC

jezzamon wrote: post #46

dotBen wrote: post #27

An interesting read but also feels like the rearranging of the deckchairs on the Titanic given the forthcoming disruption from generative AI in this industry. I spent some time last month with a relative in the industry (camera operator and producer) and he already uses some very sophisticated AI to map out scenes and shots in gen ai full video before they shoot IRL. It's mostly a cost saving exercise as well as occa…

A lot of people, especially left leaning and young people, are very against any AI use and especially for AI pictures or video. For them it's very cringe-worthy. So that would all need to change somehow. Remember that a lot of the people driving opinions on stuff are the artists that would be displaced by this technology. Also... Actors aren't hired based on acting skill. AI can't replace the notoriety part of why st…

Honestly I don't really see use of AI in films or music any worse than use in say programming. Actually even less so. Output is fixed and much easier to verify. So if it is reasonable and it sell why not go for it instead of expensive way things are now done.

Re: How Hollywood stopped making movies in Hollywood

#110

Post by laanon2026 » Mon, Aug 03, 2026, 6:59 PM UTC

devindotcom wrote: post #56

WalterBright wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The flood of immigrants into California inevitably pushes up housing prices.

Lol. Imagining someone sneaking across the border from Mexico so they can work under the table to afford a $4k/mo 1BR in Hollywood

WalterBright got flagged into oblivion because of a war with reality. He said something to the effect of immigration causing/keeping real estate high/unaffordable. This IS what is happening. I live here in West LA. Immigration is causing this. It’s basic supply and demand. I live on one side of a 2 family in a 2 bdrm and rent out the living room space to make it more affordable. Next to me is a 6 unit building, all 2 bdrm units. Everyone is a recent immigrant from either Guatemala or Mexico. All six units house a family of at least 4 people. They work together to pay rent. No one is coming here from south of the boarder and paying 4K/month, themselves, to live in my neighborhood. They move in with immediate family or cousins or extended family. With 4-7 people working, the per person portion of rent is decreased substantially compared to COL expectations of indigenous Americans. This longterm trend pushes middle class people out, keeps real estate high and wages low. Even if you don’t live here all that is required to understand this phenomenon is basic econ and the courage to follow logical reasoning. I was born here. My family lived a very middle class life. The middle class was huge back then. The dynamics I explain have gutted the middle class and created a two tier class of the wealthy in the Hollywood Hills and a low income, immigrant, working class in mid city. This is growth economics and GDP must go up at the expense of everything else. I don’t blame the people running away from their own country’s problems to come here. It’s the path of least resistance. I like the majority of them as friends and neighbors. The system is massively exploitative and destructive and can only operate by replacing higher standard of living expectations with lower standard of living expectations. LA was a middle class American paradise from the 1950s-1980s. Lots of opportunities and sense of community for most people. LA has been transformed into a brutal globalist stratification. I work for Google and make relatively great money. Within a couple more years I’ll be able to buy a tiny million dollar ranch in San Clemente or opt to leave the state entirely. Most of the people I grew up with have not been as fortunate. There is another aspect of Southern California that virtually no one who didn’t grow up here is aware of. This is the endless expanse of building and development for the sake of building and development (growth economics) into the desert. East and southeast east of Ontario Airport is more or less (or was) extremely hostile rocky desert. Moreno Valley is one such artificial community. Zoom in with your maps app and take a look at the earth between development zones. This endless development into the desert makes the economy of Southern California go round. Southern California is not the model I want for the country. The density fetishists disturb me more than anyone else. There is no water here.