Short on Sound Mixers, the Industry Trains Its Own
A shortage of production sound mixers has prompted a paid apprenticeship program pairing newcomers with working veterans on real sets.
The Industry
Studios, stages and the people who keep them running.
Studio Tours Set an Attendance Record as Production Slumps
Studio tours posted record spring attendance even as production slowed, underscoring tourism's role as the industry's steadiest business.
A Hollywood Film Lab Survives on Old Reels and a Stubborn Few Who Still Shoot Film
As digital finishing became the default, one neighborhood lab pivoted to archival scanning and the handful of productions that still expose celluloid, keeping a fading craft at work.
Storyboard Artists Meet the Machine That Draws, and Decide What They Still Do Better
As image-generating tools seep into pre-production, the artists who sketch a film before it is shot are neither panicking nor pretending nothing has changed.
With Shoots Scarce, Some Hollywood Stages Rent to a Different Kind of Show
Immersive attractions, corporate events and commercial shoots are filling soundstages that a thin production year has left dark — a stopgap owners describe without much romance.
Rumors Swirl Around the Fate of Historic Stage 7, and the Crews Are Listening
No application has been filed and the studio will not comment, but talk that a landmark soundstage could be eyed for redevelopment has unsettled a workforce already thinned by a slow year.
Awards Season Fills the Old Houses, and a Small Economy Wakes Up With Them
For a few weeks each winter, the campaign screenings pack Hollywood's revival theaters and put a seasonal payroll to work: moderators, projectionists, valets and the caterers who feed the lobby.
With Film Work Scarce, a Soundstage Rents to Whoever Will Book It
A Hollywood stage complex that once turned away everything but film and television is filling its empty months with corporate parties, immersive attractions and commercial shoots.
A Stock-Footage House Digitizes a Century of Film, Betting Someone Still Wants the Past
A family-run film library on Cahuenga is scanning tens of thousands of cans of stock footage, wagering that real archival material still has buyers in a market that wants everything instantly.
The Slump Reaches the Cutting Rooms
A Hollywood post-production house that finishes other people's films has cut hours and let staff go, a sign the downturn has moved from the sets to the rooms where the work is put together.