From “The White Lotus” to “The Pitt”, Hollywood is tightening its belt

Affected by inflation and the effects of the 2023 strike, the American film and television industry is converting to a certain austerity, which could permanently modify the type of content chosen and the way of producing it.

Vou want a glimpse of the atmosphere in Hollywood? Ask Nicole Kidman. “ Everything is difficult right now […] The possibilities of a film or series being made are diminishing. I feel it. And I’m sure everyone in the industry feels that.”confides the actress and producer in the latest issue of Vanity Fair American. This sharing of experience, surprising from an A-list star, echoes the words of the HBO boss. Disclosing the channel’s plans for 2025 in mid-November, Casey Bloys did not show off, announcing that the budget devoted to the creation of new content would not increase. “We are on a flat curve. And flat, taking into account inflation, means falling. »

Weight of the overall economic situation; delayed effects of the screenwriters’ strike, which paralyzed production for five months in 2023; caution in an uncertain political climate… The dream industry has taken the turn towards austerity. The new watchword for studios: fewer production releases and more compact budgets.

Restrictions that impact job offers in Hollywood

Besides complicating the projects of A-listers like Nicole Kidman, these restrictions are impacting entertainment kingpins. Between the first half of 2022 and the first half of 2024, while the national production volume fell by 35%, according to the organization ProdPro, job offers in the film and television sector in California marked a decline of 30%. %, according to a study by the Otis College of Art and Design. A crisis which is forcing hundreds of authors and technicians to take temporary small jobs, or even to leave Hollywood to apply in other sectors.

If the boss of HBO still wanted to be reassuring about the future, estimating that “ 2025 will completely turn the page on the strike »the trend towards sobriety could permanently reshape production choices, and have a tangible effect on the type of content favored and the form it will take. Significantly, Casey Bloys announced the renewal of The White Lotuswhose cost per episode is limited to three million dollars and which is a hit, but rules out the possibility of new variations of Game of Thrones. The 20 million per episode of the last avatar of the saga, House of the Dragonare clearly no longer up to date.

The series “The Pitt” adopts new production methods

In the new paradigm that is emerging, and succeeds the excesses of Peak TV, this is another project that could act as a master standard. In development for Max, the platform born from the association between HBO and Warner Bros, the medical drama The Pitt contrasts with developments in the industry over the past fifteen years. Written by the former showrunner ofEMERGENCIES John Wells, with actor Noah Wyle headlining, The Pitt plans to shoot fifteen episodes per season, when most platform series are limited to ten maximum. The objective? Contain the cost per episode to $4 million by amortizing expenses over time. This budgetary rationalization also involves the establishment of a fixed salary scale, which breaks with the negotiation system in force in Hollywood. Without yet becoming a new standard, this salary practice has already been adopted by other series, such as the thriller with Natasha Lyonne Poker Face.

Will these modalities become a standard? While it is too early to generalize, Casey Bloys declared in September that he considered The Pitt as the model of what a Max series should be: “ Several seasons, completed episodes and a reasonable price ». No more expensive mini-series, long live low-cost soap operas: after having exploded the counters, the platforms in search of savings are perhaps reinventing old-fashioned TV.