A new report suggests that Hollywood studios now spend only 42 percent of production budgets in the United States – down from 74 percent 25 years ago.
The report from a coalition of Hollywood unions, including IATSE, the DGA, and SAG-AFTRA, says that Hollywood has dramatically decreased its spending in the United States in the past 25 years. For film production budgets, the spending has dropped from 74 percent to 42 percent; for television, the spending in the U.S. has dropped from 94 percent to 64 percent.
“The study looked into movies and TV episodes that take a significant amount of funds to make, such as films with budgets of $5 million or more, in 2025 dollars, and TV episodes costing at least $1 million, for about 40 minutes or shorter, and at least $1.7 million for episodes longer than 40 minutes,” reported the New York Post.
“In the past 25 years, the amount major studios spent on production rose from $3 billion to $7 billion. TV spending increased even more during that time, from $933 million to $8.4 billion,” it added.
The report did, however, note that the rise of streaming led to increased spending. It also did not explain the reason productions moved overseas while quantifying it.
“The rise of streaming fundamentally altered production scale, budgets, season lengths, and release models, creating discontinuities in what constitutes a comparable television series across periods,” the report said.
It also noted that high production budgets are “heavily concentrated within a small subset of films.”
“This highlights that production budgets are heavily concentrated within a small subset of films,” the report said. “Patterns observed within this group generally reflect the broader analysis trends, albeit with a somewhat larger decline.”
Speaking at a Burbank City Hall earlier this year, California Sen. Adam Schiff (D) said that roughly 45 percent of all U.S. films and scripted shows are being shot abroad.
Schiff said more 42,000 jobs have been lost along with livelihoods and careers, adding that entertainment projects are being “lured abroad” by “foreign governments that have invested aggressively in building their own film industries.”
The senator noted that 45 percent of all U.S. films and scripted television shows last year were shot abroad – a full 12 percent spike from 2022’s 33 percent. While Schiff appreciated some of the incentive programs that California politicians have implemented to keep production in state, he called for a federal tax credit.
“State programs cannot simply substitute for the kind of global, federal and competitive tax incentives that are needed to bring production back to American soil and stop its offshoring,” he said at the event. “The urgency could not be greater.”
The Los Angeles Times, however, noted that the “U.S. still captures the bulk of big budget productions, but its market share in that category is shrinking.”
“Last year, the U.S. led all countries with a total of $12.15 billion in production spending, but that was down 20% from 2024, according to ProdPro,” it added. “The United Kingdom has long been a magnet for Hollywood, but its allure has only grown in recent years thanks to expanded film incentives, experienced crews and new facilities.”