Employing more than 141,000 people, entertainment industry is the most important pillar of LA’s “creative economy”. Last year it generated US$190 billion and employed one in eight people. Consequently, Los Angeles has been dubbed the most creative city in the US. But there is also a fresh-paint feeling of newness in the air. The industry is changing, with online streaming shaking up
Hollywood in a way it’s never experienced before. Even social media companies such as Facebook, with a new campus in LA’s Playa Vista, are investing heavily in bespoke video content (Facebook’s Watch video-on-demand platform).
In 2017, Net ix spent US$6 billion on original programming, and is reportedly planning to plough another US$7-8 billion into dramas and documentaries in 2018. You only have to drive down Sunset Boulevard to see the literal rise of extended format programming, with huge billboards advertising The Crown (Net ix), Big Little Lies (HBO), The Problem with Apu (TruTV) and The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (Amazon).
You can nd out more about the development of new technologies in the shiny state of California, reading our cover article entitled “LA Story”. I do hope you will enjoy this issue of our magazine.
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