Hollywood in decline? US film and television producers beyond the era of fiscal crisis

In the national and global entertainment media production centre of 'Hollywood', the fiscal crisis punctuated a long-term trend towards declining employment and production capacity. Two factors explain why entertainment media production workers faced the contemporary fiscal crisis in a vulnerable position: (i) media conglomerates adopted a global strategy that severely limited financing and distribution options for medium- and low-budget films; and (ii) the decrease in mid-budget projects in film and television reduced opportunities to compose a sufficient income from project-based work in entertainment media production. This analysis demonstrates the critical role the labour force plays in project-based industries and has implications for how we understand adaptation and change over time in production 'clusters'.