Louisiana film industry suffers a steep decline since 2022 peak: 'We're in the middle of it'

“Quiet on the set!” has taken on a whole new meaning in the wake of dwindling productions and empty sound stages everywhere in the state. 

At its peak in 2022, there were 14 to 16 major productions in any given month throughout the state.

Currently, there are two.

The production sheets for upcoming films aren’t much better. What used to be eight pages of films shooting or in prep on any given week, has shrunken to just two pages, as industry leaders hang on by their fingernails, playing a waiting game.

“In 2022, there was an annual revenue of around $1 billion in Louisiana, which translated to 11,000 jobs,” said Jason Waggenspack, CEO of The Ranch Studios and Film Louisiana’s president. “And, now, we will finish this year at a 65% reduction. It’s a domestic problem throughout the U.S., and we’re caught in the middle of it. This is one of the lowest times ever. But consumer’s voracious appetite for content isn’t going away, and that means we need to keep producing.” 

However, Waggenspack notes, recent uncertainty in the industry has driven productions overseas. Two major industry strikes at the end of 2023, and the threat of a Teamsters and IATSE (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) strike this year saw productions leaving the U.S. to avoid shutdowns mid-shoot.

Meanwhile, studios are merging, leaving the industry in flux. That uncertainty, plus an unknown outcome in an election year, and a bad economy to boot, have led productions abroad.

Big business 

Moviemaking is big business, but it’s a very different business today than the Hollywood studio system of yesteryear.

“Since the dawn of Hollywood, the studios were run by executives who came up in this industry, understood it and had an appreciation of it,” explained Billy Slaughter, actor and vice president of Louisiana’s Screen Actors Guild.

“Now that the streamers have taken over, it’s mega-corporations running things, but we’re merely their side hustle. Amazon, Apple and Disney for example, all have other, more profitable revenue streams, and their overriding ambition is not necessarily to make critically acclaimed films, but to turn huge profits.”

For studio tycoons, buying up international programming cheaply may be profitable, but for actors, the lack of new studio productions has been dire, with fewer and fewer films for which to audition.

A Nichols' worth

Lance Nichols, a New Orleans-based actor who’s been in the business for over four decades and has been a part of 235 productions, has agency representation in New Orleans, Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles. He says that cost-cutting measures are in place no matter what city you’re in, as evidenced by a recent experience he had auditioning for a series guest-starring role on TV.

“Except for the Dick Wolf shows (including the 'Law and Order' series and 'Chicago' series), there’s really nothing else going on right now in Chicago, so my agent submitted me for this particular role on 'Chicago P.D.,' which shoots right in that city,” Nichols explained. “My agent submitted my various reels, and we heard back from casting that they liked my work and wanted to hire me.”

Then, according to Nichols, everything in the negotiation went south, with requests that were never submitted in the original breakdown.

“My agent was suddenly told that they wanted this to be a 'local hire,' which means treating me as if I live in Chicago, not paying for my flight, hotel accommodations, meals or a per diem. This wasn’t a recurring role; it was a one-and-done.

"So, with my associated costs, the math just didn’t make sense. I turned down the role. They basically want you to pay to work. This is happening everywhere.”

Incentive programs 

It's important to note that from a Louisiana perspective, the competition to entice Hollywood productions to shoot here has changed radically. Whereas Louisiana was the first state to have a tax incentive program, which rebated money to studios for shooting here, 37 states now have similar programs.

Production locations were once primarily in Los Angeles and New York, then later spread to Louisiana, Georgia and New Mexico, which all have production hubs. Now, 76% of states are trying to get in on the action by actively marketing themselves to the Hollywood studios. That makes it much tougher to be a standout locale for film and television here in Louisiana.

Casting director Liz Coulon of Coulon Casting, Inc., who’s been doing this for 22 years, has ridden the ebbs and flows of the business but says this downturn is the one she’s been most worried about.

“In this industry, you have to save for these downtimes, but this has been a very long time now, since COVID,” Coulon said. “It’s the first time I’ve been questioning whether it’s a viable business going forward. There have been some commercials that have kept us afloat, but compared to 2021-2022, it’s been incredibly slow.

"That said, after months of spinning my wheels, a couple of weeks ago I got two film scripts," she said. "One is shooting in October and the other one, still in the works, will probably shoot in October/November, so there’s a bit of light.”

A quartet of hope 

With four film productions now slated to shoot in the fall, there’s some hope on the horizon. And with Film Louisiana hiring a new P.R. firm in New Orleans and a new marketing firm in Baton Rouge to put the state front and center in the minds of studios, the push is on.

“We never really tooted our own horns much before,” SAG V.P. Slaughter said, “Now, it’s vital to survival.”