Years into a slump in the local production of movies and television shows, several of the largest California-based studios are laying plans to build sound stages, postproduction facilities and offices in what might become the most aggressive growth spurt in recent Hollywood memory.
Disney, NBCUniversal and Paramount all have large, long-term expansion plans on the books. The construction would follow recent face-lifts and incremental growth on and near the lots owned by the three other major studios — Fox, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Brothers.
The resulting transformation would seem to put a glow of health on an industry that was bruised by a writers strike in 2007, then battered by recession, piracy and digital competition — yet remains optimistic about filmed entertainment and its production in and around Los Angeles.
Some observers are puzzled.
“It doesn’t make sense,” said Peter Guber, chief executive of Mandalay Entertainment Group, a sports and entertainment company. He spoke by telephone as he drove to the set of his latest film, “The Voices,” a horror story filmed in Berlin.
After becoming chairman of Sony Pictures in 1989, Mr. Guber ordered a top-to-bottom overhaul of the studio’s Culver City lot. More recently, though, he looked at an opportunity to buy a midsize lot here, but backed away. “It doesn’t appear there will be that much more production,” Mr. Guber said of the near-term prospects.
One closely watched barometer illustrates the trend: the number of location shooting days in Los Angeles County has remained below peaks achieved in 2006 and 2007, according to state and local officials. “We’re still seeing TV shows and films leave,” said Amy Lemisch, the executive director of the California Film Commission.
Still, last month the Los Angeles Business Journal noted that Disney, NBCUniversal and Paramount were planning three of the largest commercial developments in Los Angeles County, with a combined cost in the billions of dollars, serving as the blueprint for substantial growth in movie and television facilities at all three.
Each of the projects follows a logic of its own, but they all reflect Hollywood’s determination to remain a force here by planning enough physical expansion to contain operations well into the future.
“Being in control of your destiny is better than being at the mercy of others,” said Christine M. McCarthy, Disney’s executive vice president for corporate real estate, sourcing and alliances, and the company’s treasurer.
At its Grand Central Creative Campus in Glendale, Disney has authorization through 2032 to build up to 3.2 million additional square feet in a 125-acre, light industrial compound. The campus already houses its interactive division and other operations on ground that once housed a local airstrip.
Growth in Glendale would most likely exclude movie and television operations, according to people briefed on the company’s approach, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of uncertainty about exact plans.
If approvals are granted, Disney is hoping to build as many as 12 soundstages on its 890-acre Golden Oak ranch about 20 miles to the northwest. That would almost double the number of stages Disney currently owns on its lot in Burbank, and a nearby television-oriented facility — an expansion that might allow Disney to reduce space it now rents from others.
At Paramount, a $700 million expansion on the studio’s Hollywood district lot will occur over 25 years, assuming the plan survives a review process whose next hurdle is the release of an environmental impact report.
Part of the challenge is to integrate operations on an 87-year-old lot that was acquired in pieces, beginning with two adjoining properties, one belonging to Paramount, the other to RKO Pictures (and, later, Desilu Productions), while increasing office and production space.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/20/business/media/disney-nbcuniversal-and-paramount-plan-bold-studio-expansions.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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