For years the challenges kept coming for Hollywood’s rank and file. First there was the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which interrupted production. Then the historic double strikes in 2023, which did the same. Not to mention an overall contraction in the entertainment business and, to cap it off, fires ripping across swaths of Los Angeles in 2025, destroying the homes of some in the business who were already facing a crushing downturn in work.

But ever since the blazes, local production advocates have been fighting back. “The fires, I feel like, galvanized people,” said Only Murders in the Building co-executive producer Kristin Newman at a panel discussion on Wednesday. “Being kicked so many times was what made everyone feel like we finally needed a little help.”

On the anniversary of the start of the Eaton and Palisades Fires, Newman and other L.A. production advocates gathered in West Hollywood to take stock of their progress on getting that help. In the wake of the disaster, a grassroots push to restore film and television production volume to the L.A. area has resulted in some tangible achievements. Chief among them is the $420 million augmentation of the California film and television tax credit program that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in 2025 after heavy industry lobbying.

That’s not to mention attempts to reform the local permitting process and cut production costs, like motions L.A. City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian introduced in December and a “film industry support package” that the Culver City City Council approved a month earlier.

Still, as of 2026, many L.A.-based industry workers remain under-employed, if they have any work at all. Recent production data remains depressing: On-location shoot days in the greater L.A. area decreased 13.2 percent in the third quarter of 2025 (an all-time low) compared to the prior year, according to the local film office.

It’s a struggle that Culver City councilmember Dan O’Brien knows intimately. The councilmember has worked as an editor in the industry for nearly three decades, including during his tenure in public office (which in Culver City is a volunteer position). Fighting back tears, he told the audience on Wednesday that he recently sold his home “and it is directly related to my lack of income” as an industry worker. He added, “I know that this is a really difficult time for all of us.”

That’s not to say this situation is permanent. Some panelists struck an optimistic tone about recent policy developments and what they meant for the year ahead in Hollywood. In a conversation with , California Film Commission executive director Colleen Bell stated that in the last six months, the augmented tax credit program has taken in 119 projects, which she says are predicted to generate $4.2 billion in local economic activity, 25,000 jobs and 4,000 shoot days. “We have an incredible amount of momentum taking place right now,” she said.