Hollywoods collapse continues as another production house is forced to close
Another longtime Hollywood production company has shut its doors, becoming the latest casualty of California’s prolonged slowdown in film and television production.Shadowcast Pictures, a Los Angeles-based production equipment rental company that supplied cameras, lighting and other filmmaking gear to movies, television shows and commercials for nearly two decades, has ceased operations after struggling through years of industry turmoil.“I couldn’t imagine the film industry that was profitable and had a foolproof system for over 100 years fall off a cliff,” owner Jay Ellison told CBS Los Angeles.Ellison said the business never fully recovered from the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and was further battered by the 2023 Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes, the ongoing decline in production across Los Angeles and the growing use of artificial intelligence in filmmaking.“AI is basically replacing the background, the lighting, even the costume, wardrobe, in certain instances,” Ellison said.“It’s all being changed and manipulated by AI.”Shadowcast Pictures, which was independently owned and operated by Ellison, is the latest production support business to disappear as work continues to migrate out of California.
The company specialized in renting production equipment to film, television and commercial shoots rather than producing movies itself.Its closure adds to a growing list of entertainment businesses that have folded in recent years.More than 80 film and television production service companies in Los Angeles have closed since 2022, CBS Los Angeles reported.
Among them was Faux Prop House, a longtime prop rental company that shut down in 2025 after citing the steep decline in local production.Entertainment attorney Jonathan Handel warned that the industry’s struggles extend well beyond Hollywood studios, affecting thousands of businesses that depend on film and television work throughout Southern California.“This is a problem...