At the top of Saturday night’s PGA Awards, the guild’s co-president Donald De Line made a plea to industry suits in the room to keep production in Los Angeles following the devastating wildfires.
“Now more than ever it’s important that we gather together having just endured the most devastating fires in the history of LA. Sadly many of our members were profoundly affected,” De Line told attendees at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Century City.
“Critical to rebuilding our city is bringing jobs back,” said the Ready Player One and Italian Job producer.
“We are beseeching studios, streamers, financiers, please help bring production back to Los Angeles,” he continued. “The movie business made Los Angeles and now it’s time for Los Angeles to make movies again.”
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PGA president Stephanie Allain told the room that the guild established a fund for those who’ve been displaced, having raised more than $450,000.
Accepting the Danny Thomas Award for Outstanding Episodic Television, Hacks co-creator Jen Statsky echoed De Line’s rally for more shoots in L.A.
Said Statsky, “Hacks is a show that has shot in Los Angeles for five years now. So much of it on location, particularly in the community of Altadena. Altadena was where Deborah Vance’s L.A. house was. It is where so many businesses that were so good and kind to our cast and crew.”
She added, “The people in Altadena are good people. Our hearts are with them. The people in Los Angeles are good people, our hearts are with them. We need to bring production back to L.A. … that works for everyone, not just those at the top.”
RELATED: ‘Shrinking’ Season 3 Production Gets Underway In Fire-Ravaged Altadena & Pasadena
Last night at the Critics Choice Awards, Statsky’s fellow Hacks co-creator and star Paul W. Downs also called on industry folk at the Santa Monica Airport Barker Hanger to bring productions back to Los Angeles.
Shooting permit applications have reportedly dropped in Los Angeles since the wildfires.
AppleTV+’s Shrinking is one of the L.A.-based shows to continue shooting in the fire impacted areas of Pasadena and Altadena.