Hollywood's Spending Shift: California Tops Slowing Production Pipeline as New Jersey, Mexico Surge
An exclusive analysis of first-half 2025 data reveals a stark downturn in production spending across major hubs like New York and Georgia, while New Jersey's tax incentives fuel a dramatic boom. Explore the shifting landscape of film and episodic television.
New data detailing film and television production activity for the first half of 2025 paints a picture of a industry-wide slowdown, punctuated by dramatic shifts in regional spending. While California maintains its throne as the dominant production hub, the overall figures reveal a stark contraction across most major centres, with a few notable exceptions rewriting the competitive landscape.
According to the analysis done by The Hollywood Reporter, total production spending in California reached $2.77 billion, a 10% year-over-year decrease. This decline was felt across both its substantial episodic television sector, which dipped 8% to $2.41 billion, and its high-budget feature film scene, which saw a sharp 23% drop to $362 million. Despite this downturn, the state's sheer volume, with 84 filming projects, kept it firmly in the lead.
The downturn was far more pronounced in other traditional powerhouses. New York experienced a severe 38% collapse in overall spending, landing at $1.43 billion. Its episodic production was hit hardest, falling 46% to $1.03 billion, though its feature film spending showed a slight 3% resilience. Similarly, Georgia, a longtime rival, saw its total production spend fall by 28% to $1.04 billion, with episodic work down 35%.
The most dramatic story of H1 2025, however, is the meteoric rise of New Jersey. The state witnessed an explosive 81% increase in total production investment, reaching $402 million. This surge was almost entirely driven by a colossal 196% boom in big-budget feature film projects, which accounted for $358 million of the total spend. This indicates a clear success for the state's aggressive tax incentive program, pulling major film work from neighbouring New York and beyond.
Internationally, Mexico's previously booming production scene appears to be cooling. Combined spending on episodic and high-budget features plummeted, with feature film investment down a staggering 85% to just $27 million. Illinois also mirrored the national trend of decline, with a 37% overall drop, though it did see a 100% increase in feature film spending—albeit from a very low base of just one project.
This first-half report card signals a period of significant recalibration for the global production industry. The data suggests that while established hubs are grappling with decreased activity, the competitive environment is fiercer than ever. The success of New Jersey's incentives proves that states with favourable policies can rapidly capture market share, even in a cooling climate. As productions become increasingly cost-conscious, these regional financial battles will likely intensify, reshaping the geographic map of where Hollywood's biggest stories are told.