How Hollywood stopped making movies in Hollywood • Hacker News Board

Re: How Hollywood stopped making movies in Hollywood

#261

Post by jesterson » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 2:30 AM UTC

bsenftner wrote: post #6

I worked in Los Angeles doing animation and VFX software for 33 years, and left 5 years ago as the cost of living there made no sense, and my prospects for work became nomadic global chasing of work now taking place in countries with no or ignored labor laws. (As if labor laws are respected in the US anyway.) Interesting in relation to the article, the author describes working out of the empty Warner Bros. lot; I liv…

Makes me wonder who actually lives in LA now. Or rather who can live there and afford to pay bills.

Besides millionaires from Santa Monica and homeless from downtown.

Re: How Hollywood stopped making movies in Hollywood

#262

Post by fxtentacle » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 8:30 AM UTC

“many of Hollywood’s problems can be traced back to a single economic theory of everything: the rent is too damn high.”

Re: How Hollywood stopped making movies in Hollywood

#263

Post by AlexeyBelov » Wed, Aug 05, 2026, 11:44 AM 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 already transferring his skills as a camera operator into prompting

Thanks for the laugh.

Re: How Hollywood stopped making movies in Hollywood

#264

Post by gamblor956 » Fri, Aug 07, 2026, 12:14 AM UTC

thaumasiotes wrote: post #208

gamblor956 wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those movies didn't lose money under GAAP. However, the specific legal entities that the talent made their profit deals with did not earn profits due to the way that revenues and expenses were allocated between the companies involved in making and distributing those films. For each of those films, at least one company was and is earning $$$, but the talent doesn't get to make a revenue sharing deal with those compani…

> For each of those films, at least one company was and is earning $$$, but the talent doesn't get to make a revenue sharing deal with those companies. That doesn't sound right. Traditionally, and in particular in the case of Forrest Gump, the distinction is between people who contract for a percentage of net profit (always zero) and people who contract for a percentage of gross revenue. The revenue is measured at th…

The revenue hasn't been measured at the same point in our lifetimes. It was never just about net and gross but also which entity you had points with. A lot of talent had gross deals with the wrong entities.