Reflections on 2025: A Year of Change in the Entertainment Industry

Описание: If you had to sum up 2025 in the entertainment industry. It was a year that kept surprising and challenging people, both creatively and financially, but also emotionally. It was a year where it felt like just when you caught your breath, something else happened. There was another headline, another layoff, or another reminder that this industry that we love is deeply impacted by the world around it, whether we want it to be or.


But rather than thinking about the doom and the gloom, I want to focus on what we can take from the year. Because as hard as 2025 was, I genuinely believe that it gave us clarity. And clarity, even when it’s uncomfortable, is extremely valuable. So today, we’re going to talk about a few of the major moments from the year that shook the industry, but also talk about what we could learn from them and why at least I am choosing to look towards 2026 with cautious optimism.


The year started out with what, looking back now, was probably an omen for what the rest of the year would be like. In January, Southern California experienced devastating wildfires that tore through neighborhoods across LA and the surrounding counties. Thousands of structures were destroyed, entire communities were displaced, and the air quality was unsafe for days. And for many people in the entertainment industry — crew members, assistants, writers, performers — this wasn’t just a news story, it was their home. Studios shut down productions, talk shows went dark, award events were postponed.


And there was an unprecedented fear that settled over the city. And for those of us who live and work in LA, it forced a deeper fear to come to the surface. What if the city changes in a way it can never recover from? LA has always been positioned as the entertainment center. It’s where people move to chase their Hollywood dreams. It’s where careers are built. And suddenly, it was literally on fire. But production didn’t disappear. They adapted. Projects relocated, stories kept being told from other places, other countries, other communities. And in that moment, it became undeniable that the industry had already outgrown the concept of just having a single geographic center. LA is still the heart of the entertainment industry. That hasn’t changed, but it’s no longer the whole body. Global stories are increasingly what audiences want, and productions are international. Creativity is decentralized, and as scary as that realization might be to some people, it’s also freaking.


The world is bigger than just the LA bubble, or even larger, the America bubble. And that concept is not a loss, it’s an opportunity. It means there are more voices, more perspective, more ways for stories to exist beyond just one city or country’s limits. And it also means that if you’re not a huge fan of LA for whatever reason, you can still have a thriving industry career closer to wherever it is that you do love.


As the year continued, the threat from the fires died out, which only made room for the threat of unemployment. Layoffs hit again, this year most notably at Warner over the summer, but also across the entire industry almost year-round. By now, layoffs have almost become background noise in the industry, which is pretty terrifying since every headline represents real people with rent, families, health insurance, and careers they worked for years to build.


And the year made it painfully clear how unstable this industry can be even when you’re doing everything right. And yet it also highlighted something pretty essential, which is that your network could come out of so much more than your resume. The people who bounced back after layoffs and landed on their feet again had one thing in common. They had community. They had relationships. They had people who checked in, people who passed along job leads, people who reminded them that a layoff is not a reflection of their talent or their worth. And it provided them the encouragement to keep searching. Which is an important reminder to those who weren’t laid off to remember to keep in contact with their network and to foster those relationships and community because you never know when you may need it one day. And to also do the same and reach out to people who we know who have been affected so we can all do our part to help each other. Layoffs also reinforce the importance of not tying your entire identity or income to one studio or role or title. The beauty of this industry is that even in moments like this, it’s always moving.


There are new platforms, new formats, new paths that we fully haven’t imagined yet, and especially compared to other industries, the side projects we do aren’t distractions or simply for fun, they’re part of our resumes and they’re proof that you’re more than a single job description. Even if you aren’t doing anything super polished or buttoned up, it shows a love and a passion for the industry that may help you find your way to the studio role or title that will ...