Entertainment industry a small part of Santa Monica’s economy
By CHRIS YOUNG Special to the Daily Press
An upcoming conference at UCLA will discuss the status and future of the entertainment industry in Los Angeles and the implications for the city’s economy.
At the conference — which goes from 9:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. on March 27 — the UCLA Anderson School of Management will hold its quarterly economic forecast for the nation, the state, and for the first time, the Los Angeles region, with a breakdown of Southern California counties.
According to the school, Los Angeles lost 12 percent of its jobs in the movie industry last year, causing more economic problems than the aftermath of Sept. 11. The impact of the unemployment will be debated in a panel setting.
Another panel will focus on industry trends, their effects, and possible results. Some topics are technological improvements to film and music distribution, consolidation of media companies, and globalization.
Keynote speakers include Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn and Jeff Berg, chairman and CEO of International Creative Management. Industry experts also will speak.
Attendees won’t receive a separate forecast for Santa Monica because it is difficult to get detailed information on a city-by-city basis, said Tom Lieser of the Anderson Forecast team. The annual Santa Monica Economic Forecast, researched by economists at Cal State Long Beach, does focus on the city but doesn’t analyze the entertainment industry separately.
Jobs in the entertainment industry accounted for 5 percent of the city’s total employment in 2000.
“Santa Monica’s economy is quite diverse, with business and financial services, retailing and visitor services representing much of the job force,” Lieser said.
Joseph Magaddino, chairman and professor of economics at CSLB, said there were 4,000 entertainment industry jobs in Santa Monica out of 75,000 total in 2000, a sizable but not dominant group.
Two main factors have influenced the economic outlook of the entertainment industry. The collective bargaining in 2001 impacted the television industry because of layoffs and changing production timing. Also, productions outside of the U.S. to save costs have negatively affected the film industry, Lieser said.
Economic development researchers get statistics from local, state and federal governments on the entertainment industry such as employment reports, production and sales data, and income data.
Other information comes from proprietary sources like Variety, Billboard, and advertising. Also, the forecast can’t gather information on the self-employed because they can’t be tracked. There are more self-employed people in the entertainment industry than other industries.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 20, 2002. Read the original PDF.