Entertainment industry
labor unions use the studio zone to determine
per diem rates, work rules, and
workers' compensation for union workers. For example, entertainment works produced within the area are considered "local" and workers are responsible for paying for their own meals and transportation to work sites; those outside the zone are considered "on location" and the studios are generally expected to pay for these expenses. During most of the 20th century, the Hollywood entertainment industry preferred to film movies and television shows within the studio zone to reduce labor costs. Thus, the zone largely determined the location and success of the original
movie ranches in or near
Hollywood. By establishing movie ranches within the boundary of the zone, studios could take advantage of Los Angeles's varied landscape.
Boundaries with the
La Cienega Boulevard intersection in the foreground (2023) The studio zone's boundaries have expanded over the years, primarily to keep labor costs down and help keep Los Angeles as an attractive site to shoot productions. The studio zone was formally first established in 1934, originally defined as a radius from Rossmore Avenue and 5th Street. By 1970, the center of the zone became Beverly and La Cienega boulevards in the
Beverly Grove, Los Angeles neighborhood, the then-headquarters of the
Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), and expanded to a radius. In 2010, additional locations were added:
Agua Dulce, the entire community of
Castaic (in addition to Castaic Lake),
Leo Carrillo State Park,
Moorpark,
Ontario International Airport,
Piru, and
Pomona (including the
Fairplex, of which a small portion is jurisdictionally in
La Verne). With respect to the locations added in 2010, producers are required to grant reasonable requests to actors for hotel accommodations if the locations listed above lie over outside of the original zone. Locations rejected in negotiations included adding
Lancaster and
Port Hueneme to the zone. The addition of Pomona to the studio zone has led to an increase in filming in that city. Since the 1990s, many countries and other U.S. states have offered generous tax credits or deductions to offset the much higher cost of filming on location and thereby break the
self-reinforcing loop which had kept the American film industry centered on the thirty-mile zone for so many decades. The result was what Hollywood people call
runaway production. Places such as
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania;
New Orleans,
Louisiana;
Atlanta,
Georgia; and
Vancouver,
British Columbia,
Canada have become popular—and cheaper—alternatives to filming in Los Angeles and
New York City. ==In popular culture==