ProdPro Speaks on Industry Trends at Media Supply Festival

Last month, ProdPro CEO Alex LoVerde was invited to speak at the Media Supply Festival in New York City. At the conference, which focuses on trends within the supply chain, the first topic of discussion was "Where has the content gone?". If you work in the industry and your business or job relies on a steady stream of active TV and film productions, then you certainly understand why this question is being asked.

The strikes ended last November - and 6 months of backlogged productions were supposed to get going as soon as SAG and WGA settled. And yet, due to multiple factors, the industry has been much slower to get back to work - especially in certain regions.

At the conference, LoVerde discussed three key factors:

• Looming labor negotiations: IATSE and TEAMSTERS are currently negotiating their new agreements. While the risk of strike may feel lower than last year, the studios are being cautious with production schedules to avoid the disruptions that occurred and cost them in 2023.
• Streamer pullback on spend: Overall volume was coming down even before the strikes. Ever since Q2 2022, production starts have dropped off as the major streamers curtail endless spending in favor of more strategic bets. This took a few months to trickle down but by Q1 of 2023 the volume of production starts was already down 13% from 2022.
• Lower cost hotspots winning a higher share: Production hubs that boast rich incentives, lower local labor rates, and favorable currency exchange rates are attracting a higher share of production. This is creating an environment of winners and losers geographically. The relative winners include Toronto, Vancouver, and New Mexico.

Data includes number of unique productions actively filming in the respective locations. This includes live-action scripted TV/film productions with an estimated budget over $10M.

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